Dollard des Ormeaux resident Yvan Grandmaison, 40, was detained by Quebec Court Judge Gilles Cadieux on March 15 in a Montreal courthouse, following his bail hearing on charges of Impaired Driving Causing Death and Impaired Driving Causing Bodily Harm. Grandmaison is charged with the death of local resident Ngnan Wong Yee, 73, following a collision which also left Wong Lee's husband, Shui Poon Hui, 72 critically-injured. The elderly couple was out for a walk near their home when they were struck by Grandmaison's car. Grandmaison is alleged to have been impaired by drugs at the time of the crash. The case is protected by a publication ban and returns to court on April 10.

Read article in the Montreal Gazette.

Parents of Jeshurun Warren, Alphanso and Stephanie Warren of Chisholm Avenue in Kingston were granted a no-travel bail in the amount of $300,000. Mr. and Mrs. Warren are charged in Jamaica with Concealment of Death and Failure to Bury the Body of a Child after their infant's decomposing body was found in a suitcase by neighbours who forcibly entered their residence in an effort to locate him. An autopsy has concluded that the infant died of natural causes. Further review may be called for after it was learned that Jeshurun's parents had been charged in Canada with Child Negligence and three of their children were placed under State care.
Conditions of the recognizance include the surrender of their travel documents and reporting to the Hunt's Bay Police every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during business hours. The accused return to court on April 18.

Read more in the Jamaica Observer.

Abdullahi Mohamoud, 22, of Mississauga, was released at the William Davis Courthouse yesterday by Justice of the Peace Jerome Redmond on a $10,000 surety recognizance of bail. Conditions of the bail include a complete prohibition from driving. Mohamoud is charged with failure to remain at the scene, criminal negligence causing death, theft of gas under $5,000, breach of recognizance and driving while under suspension in the death of gas station employee Hashem Atifeh Rad, 62, a married father of two. Rad was killed while trying to stop a gas thief at the Southdown Rd./Truscott Dr. Petro-Canada station where he worked as a cashier. The total value of gas stolen by the thief is $75.

Toronto Police Constable Daniel J. Costa, 29, is to appear in Newmarket Ontario Court of Justice for a bail hearing today after being charged with perjury. Costa is accused of misleading a York Region Police homicide investigation into the gangland-style murder of multi-millionaire jeweller Alexander Kucovic, 37, in July 2011.

Kucovic was the victim of what is widely seen to have been a targeted killing outside his Concord home. York Region police investigating the possible involvement of Constable Costa's younger brother Michael Costa allege that the 23 Division Constable made “a false statement under oath, namely stating repeatedly to investigators he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of his brother a person of interest in the homicide investigation, knowing the statement to be false …”
Michael Costa is believed to have left Canada for southern Italy. Constable Costa has been suspended with pay.

Giovanni (John) Palumbo, the Ottawa doctor charged with stalking singer Shania Twain will be held in custody following a failed Bail Hearing at Toronto's Old City Hall.

Palumbo has entered a guilty plea to criminal harassment by watching and besetting, as well as failure to comply with a court order. He is awaiting sentencing following the testimony of Ottawa psychiatrist Dr. Helen Ward, who found him to be criminally responsible for his actions against Twain. In a surprise bail application, Palumbo proposed he reside without supervision at his last known address, the tony Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

Despite potentially being in a time-served position, Ontario Court Justice Richard Schneider ordered Palumbo to remain detained, citing an absence of a plan of supervision and continued safety concerns for the singer. Twain had testified by video link from Europe that she feared for her safety after observing Palumbo outside her Muskoka cottage in August 2009. Palumbo has been imprisoned since he was arrested outside the Juno Awards this past March.

Sentencing for Palumbo continues on November 15.

Disgraced former theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky will remain in jailed at the Millhaven Institute in Bath, Ontario while awaiting the Supreme Court of Canada's decision on whether leave will be granted to his appeal application. Drabinsky has served less than one month of his five-year prison sentence.
Justice David Doherty of the Ontario Court of Appeal found that the public interest in denying bail pending appeal was paramount given the that his convictions for fraud and forgery were upheld this past September and his appeal application was not likely to be granted.
“Where an accused is convicted of a serious crime and sentenced to a significant jail term, public confidence in the effective operation of the justice system must suffer if years go by before the accused serves that sentence.”
If successful in his appeal application, Drabinsky can apply for bail again. Prior to his convictions being upheld, Drabinsky had been on bail for nine years since being charged in 2002.

A Sudbury Ontario Superior Court of Justice has continued bail for alleged gunman, Alex Klem, 67. Released on bail since July 2011, he faces charges of Attempted Murder, Robbery and Forcible Confinement. Klem has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment to determine if he poses a safety risk to the public. A statement from the Crown Attorney's Office indicated they would not be appealing the decision at this time. A trial date has not been set.

CBC article: Judge extends accused shooter's bail

Former Toronto theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky, recently sentenced to five years in prison for fraud, intends to apply for bail while the Supreme Court of Canada considers whether it will hear his appeal from the conviction.

Conservative omnibus crime bill C-10 received its first review by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights today, having had its First and Second reading on September 20 and 28, 2011, respectively.

Titled the Safe Streets and Communities Act, it includes significant reforms to the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) - referred to as Sebastien's Law, for 19-year-old Sebastien Lacasse who was beaten and stabbed to death at a 2004 house party in Quebec by a 17-year-old youth. The changes seek to "Simplify pre-trial detention rules to help ensure that, when necessary, violent and repeat young offenders are kept off the streets while awaiting trial."

According to the Government Backgrounder: The proposed amendment would simplify the pre-trial detention rules to ensure that a youth can be detained while awaiting trial if he or she is charged with a “serious offence” and there is a substantial likelihood that the youth will commit another serious offence if released.

A “serious offence” would be defined as any indictable offence for which the maximum punishment for an adult is imprisonment for five years or more, including violent offences, property offences (for example, theft over $5,000, which may include car theft), and offences that could endanger the public (for example, public mischief, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm, sexual exploitation, robbery and murder).

At its base, the bill provides broad justification for detention of youthful accused persons in pre-trial custody. The government has vowed to pass the bill within the first 100 sitting days of the new Parliament.

By Aaron Broverman • Bankrate.com, April 2010

Featuring Toronto Bail Hotline Lawyer - Marcus Bornfreund

Living in Canada, we're afforded certain rights that aren't available to the same degree in the rest of the world. One is the fact that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That's why bail is available to those who find themselves facing jail time. The idea is that people should have an opportunity to enjoy their freedom while waiting to face charges in court.

But what happens when you can't make bail? Will you have to find a bail bondsman to put up the money in your stead? Worse, if you skip out, is some Dog the Bounty Hunter equivalent going to track you down and drag you back to face the music, like something out of a spaghetti western?

Read more...