ALL OF CLIENTS’ CHARGES WITHDRAWN; REMAINS WITHOUT CRIMINAL RECORD

R. v. B.

Mr. B was nervous after he was criminally charged for the first time with a series of frauds involving cell phone companies.  He had never been in trouble with the law before.  Every accused person has the right to know what evidence the Crown has against them.  It is the Crown’s obligation to obtain any relevant information from the police that it is aware of and provide everything that is not clearly irrelevant to the accused, regardless of whether or not it is to be called at trial or if it is inculpatory or exculpatory.  Fraud charges often involve a lot of paperwork and Ms. Bristow noticed that the initial disclosure was missing a lot of it.  There was virtually no evidence on a number of the counts against Mr. B.  Ms. Bristow made numerous requests to the Crown Attorney’s office for more disclosure.  Bits and pieces trickled in but there were still major holes in the Crown’s case that Ms. Bristow discovered.  

The Crown Attorney was reluctant to pull the case, but Ms. Bristow did not budge and pressed for the disclosure that Mr. B was entitled to have before making any decisions about resolution or trial.  Eventually, the Crown Attorney realized that the holes in the case were not going away.  Ms. Bristow proposed a diversion position, whereby the Crown would withdraw the charges after Mr. B completed some up front work.  As a result of Ms. B’s advocacy for her client, he was able to keep his job and remain without a criminal record. 

If you have a criminal matter and would like to contact Ms. Bristow for a free consultation, please contact her by phone at 416-598-5741 or email at bristow@criminaltriallawyers.ca

Note:  Past successes do not guarantee future successes