Melissa Rose

BA, JD UAlberta // Lawyer // 85% Iced Coffee // Limitless Paper, in a Paperless World // she/her

[Criminal Lawyers’ Association @ClaOntario]

Civility and mutual respect are cornerstone values of the Canadian bench and bar.  

The Criminal Lawyers’ Association is shocked by the recent events in Red Deer, Alberta, where a member of the local defence bar was jailed for comments made in court, after Justice Gordon Yake of the Alberta Court of Justice ordered the court sheriff to “take him away”. The president of the Edmonton Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association has described Justice Yake’s conduct as “injudicious”. Having reviewed the transcript of those proceedings, we completely agree. 

The extraordinary judicial power to detain a member of the bar in custody for their conduct in the courtroom should only be used in the most egregious of circumstances - which this clearly was not. Indeed, as Justice Yake himself acknowledged, a Judge must seek to diffuse tense moments in a trial, and not do anything to elevate tensions further, and that, on reflection, he should have handled the situation differently and not raised the possibility of jailing counsel in this case. 

As defence lawyers, courtrooms are our workplace. A hostile court system is a hostile work environment. At a time when we are acutely concerned about the retention of counsel in the system - particularly of women, racialized lawyers and aboriginal lawyers - inappropriate use of a Judge’s powers over counsel who appear in their court has a profound, nation-wide effect on the relationship between the bench and the defence bar. Lawyers should not be afraid that an exchange with a Judge in court could land them in a jail cell, without any due process.  

We urge all members of the bench and bar to use this event as a moment of reflection on the indispensable role of defence counsel in the court system, and to move forward in the spirit of civility and mutual respect that represent the core values and true spirit of the Canadian legal profession.

[John Hale @JohnHaleCrimLaw]

Homeless client with mental health issues missed a fingerprint date because he was in treatment. Finally gets leave to go get his prints taken by police. While getting his prints taken he is arrested for missing his print date…

…And given a new date to be printed. /2

[_ @rose_rsj]

Pretty wild how badly prosecutors have behaved in Young Thug, Karen Read, and Alec Baldwin cases — highly watched, scrutinized, covered & videoed. Imagine what they do when nobody is watching!

[Ryan McCarthy @ryrymcc]

For every Brady dismissal obtained by an extraordinarily well-resourced defendant, just imagine how many go undetected.

[Jonny Wakefield @jonnywakefield]

Like I truly don’t understand what happens if you need a lawyer after next Tuesday and can’t afford one. Or the impetus for this.

[Sarah @rankinovitch]

3 days before the expiry of the funding and oversight agreement, on the Thurs before a long weekend, after a YEAR of negotiations where nothing like this came up, Alberta presented a completely new and untenable agreement to Legal Aid. It cuts the Law Society of Alberta

[CBA Alberta @CBAAlberta]

Our 2020 study on legal aid funding indicates that an addition investment of $4 - $6 million would result in a net cost savings to the government of $11 million annually.

Read more: https://t.co/ZfHLJZiukh

[Sean Carleton @SeanCarleton]

Earlier this year, @UAlberta said their hands were tied about a residential school genocide denialist speaking/fundraising on campus despite pressure from students and faculty. Today, they immediately called in riot police to crack down on their students for protesting a genocide

[Tom Engel @TomEngel18]

For those protesting, carry this in your wallet to read to the cops: https://t.co/3cEGCL57oj
#police #protest #HumanRights

[Dónal O'Beirne 🇺🇦 @DonoYEG]

Come out this Friday with MEEEEE to see lawyers do what they do best: Act!

This event is a fundraiser for the Victoria School Foundation. The VSF awards scholarships to talented arts students from the Victoria School of the Arts to develop their talents
https://t.co/7pu2SmwFGZ

[𝑬𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑺𝒌𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒏 @MirastyJ]

I’m filing a charter challenge to make every crown prosecution office convert all video evidence to MP4 instead of having 17 third party video players.

[Zack M. Elias @EliasCrimLaw]

How is Cst. O’Mara still allowed to be an officer? Punched a homeless man repeatedly until he bled and dropped him off in the river valley far from shelters or medical attention? A demotion was considered sufficient punishment? JFC.

[Taylor McNallie ☕ @TaylorMcNallie]

Police sharing a "high-risk offender" post when someone is released, after they've already done their time, is because they know years in prison does nothing to prevent future harm; they know throwing people behind bars isn't "rehabilitation" - it's all about punishment.

[Duncan Kinney @duncankinney]

today is my birthday and i only have two requests. read and share this story. the UCP/EPS exploited the sexual assault of a young nurse to justify encampment sweeps. that young nurse is now telling their side of the story.

[Sarah @rankinovitch]

Defence wins 3rd party records app, Judge observes police data shows disproportionate targeting of Indigenous ppl. Def plans to cross cops, Crown stays charges. Police try for a gag order to PREVENT DEFENCE COUNSEL FROM TALKING ABOUT THE RECORDS OR THE JUDGE’S COMMENTS

[Jonny Wakefield @jonnywakefield]

NEWS: @ASIRT_AB and the Crown are once again at loggerheads in a high profile police misconduct case, involving the arrest and detention of a St. Albert teen with autism. ASIRT thinks an offence may have occured, ACPS declines to prosecute. https://t.co/y7Z5JD4KHP

[Kyla Lee @IRPlawyer]

I have a dream of writing a spinoff to any police procedural (ie, Criminal Minds or Blue Bloods) where the show tracks the matters after they go to trial, and the main cast has to answer for their illegal conduct. The heroes of the cop dramas become the villains of the spinoff.

[Zachary Al-Khatib @ZaKhatib]

Words don’t to justice to what this looked like. He takes her headscarf completely off her head. She seems to protest, but isn’t violent. Then he smashes her face into the ground. There’s a video. Here’s the clip:

https://t.co/k6hzZozsvy

[Sarah @rankinovitch]

It's worth noting that $30 000 appears to be the new income cutoff for a *TWO PERSON HOUSEHOLD*. Two people living off $31 000 make too much money to access counsel through Legal Aid. https://t.co/ShhtwXO4Pp

[Zachary Al-Khatib @ZaKhatib]

If this passes, we’ll see you in court, @CityofEdmonton