CORNWALL PUBLIC INQUIRY        

Cornwall Standard Freeholder     

28 January 2009

Posted By DAVID NESSETH

[theinquiry.ca note: A typo in the article. The regional director of Crowns who testified Tuesday was James Stewart]

The director of Crown operations for the eastern region said he didn't doubt the abilities of the former Cornwall Crown attorney eventually replaced for the handling of a high-profile sex assault prosecution and appeal on his watch.

The Cornwall Public Inquiry heard Tuesday from regional director James Smith [sic] about his recollection of the details surrounding stayed charges in the cases of Jacques Leduc and Father Charles MacDonald, cases that had originally been assigned to former Cornwall Crown attorney Shelley Hallett.

In 2001, Leduc's lawyers were able to successfully argue his right to a fair trial had been violated after Hallett failed to disclose a memo suggesting the mother of one of his alleged victims had spoken to former city cop Perry Dunlop.

That failure to disclose violated Leduc's right to a fair trial, Justice James Chadwick ruled.

Although his decision was overturned on appeal, it forced Hallett to remove herself from prosecuting any men charged during Project Truth, including MacDonald.

Hallett was later investigated by the York Regional Police for obstructing justice, but was never charged.

Leduc's charges were stayed again in 2004.

Smith selected Barrie-area Crown attorney Lorne McConnery to replace Hallett, who had been having a personality conflict with an area police officer working on Project Truth.

Hallett had hoped a dedicated team of three prosecutors would be assigned to Project Truth, something Smith said may have happened if he knew everything he knows now.

While Smith didn't recall many of the meetings from some 10 years ago, inquiry Commission counsel Peter Engelmann reviewed a series of memos, e-mails and letters with Smith that helped jog his memory about the period.

This included a mass e-mail to area Crown attorneys from Paul Lindsay of the appeals branch, reminding that an appeal had been filed in the Leduc case.

"If you're a Crown attorney and the things that have been said about her on this case were a very serious, serious matter," Smith said, "and what Mr. Lindsay would appear to be doing for them was letting everybody know, just a minute, the jury's still out here, we've given an appeal, let's see what happens."

Smith said he disagreed with police officer Chris Lewis's opinion that there needed to be a press release explaining that, unless any other victims came forward, it should be indicated that the police investigation had been completed.

"If you've got a trial just about to start, or other trials, and somebody decides they want to have a jury, you don't want to have anything that could be pointed at the authorities and some way add to the pubilicity file," Smith said.

"You stay mute as best you can. Sometimes you can't."

The Leduc and MacDonald OPP investigations were part of Project Truth, which looked into allegations a clan of pedophiles had operated in the Cornwall area.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Cornwall Public Inquiry Commissioner Normand Glaude also denied a request to expand the two-hour oral submission time for the Cornwall Community Police Service, despite the police having testified more than double the number of days of other large institutions.

Glaude said that if extra time becomes available after a Feb. 12 deadline for groups to indicate how much time they intend to use, he would consider the police request at that time.