Jed's Case — Assault (Domestic) — Withdrawn

Client:  Jed C., Accused
Complainant:  Ally, Jed's Wife
Charges:  Assault (3x)

Background:  Jed was a Canadian citizen; Ally was not. They were in their early 20s. They had married for love, but had done so quickly for immigration reasons. Jed needed to sponsor Ally into the country. They were having difficulties. The tension would often escalate into yelling. On three occasions, it erupted into violence. On the third occasion, Ally called the police. At the police station, she reported all three incidents. Jed was arrested and charged.

READ THE POLICE REPORT

Goals:  Jed wanted to avoid a criminal record. He also wanted to do something about the conflict in his life. Marrying Ally had alienated most of his family. Now that he was estranged from her, he felt alone.

Strategy:  The first order of business was to get Jed into counselling. This would help in my negotiations with the Crown; if we reached sentencing, it would be critical. I also hoped that counselling would help Jed understand and overcome the turmoil in his life. As for the strength of the Crown's case, while Ally was not without blame, I figured our chance of success was "low to very low" if we proceeded to a full-blown trial. I had hoped to negotiate something at some point, but did not want to fold my tent too early.

Results:  In my early negotiations, I was unable to convince the Crown to withdraw the charges. That was no surprise, given the on-going nature of the assaults (and, of course, their general policy on domestics). We scheduled the trial. On the morning of the trial, Ally was nowhere in sight. Through neglect, the police had failed to subpoena her. The Crown intended to ask the Judge to adjourn the case. If the Judge granted the adjournment, we would have to return another day, possibly to find Ally present and ready to testify. If not, the case would be dismissed immediately. Neither result occurred. We found a middle ground: if Jed continued counselling for two more months and entered a peace bond, all charges would be withdrawn. Jed was delighted to avoid the criminal record.

READ THE COURT TRANSCRIPT
READ JED'S TESTIMONIAL