Judge slams lawyers over last-minute plea deal [Canada]
http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/94905
The case, scheduled for two weeks, began at the Whitby courthouse Monday when dozens of people responded to jury duty notices, then spent the day in the building while a panel of 12 was selected. The jurors slogged through a winter storm for the start of the trial Wednesday morning and sat through the judge’s opening instructions, which typically take about 45 minutes, before being granted a 20-minute break shortly after 11 a.m.
That 20-minute break stretched over more than an hour before lawyers came back to tell the judge they’d reached a deal: Mr. Acorn would plead guilty to a single count of assault with a weapon, while the other charges were withdrawn.
Justice Ferguson accepted the plea before calling the jury in to tell them their service was concluded. Then he apologized to the jury as well as the taxpayers who foot the bill for a court system he said is being run inefficiently.
“I am acutely sensitive to the fact that you and over 150 other people spent all day Monday here while we chose a jury. . . . You’ve come back again today and spent the better part of a day here,” he said.
