Monday, February 08, 2010

 

Basi-Virk trial will begin in late-April, judge told

.




VANCOUVER - The Basi-Virk political corruption trial may start in late April, the trial judge was told today.

During a pre-trial conference, special prosecutor Bill Berardino asked to reconvene Wednesday at set a trial date.

He suggested an "early trial date for the latter part of April of this year."

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie asked if the Crown's earlier estimate still stands of the trial taking six to eight weeks.

Berardino said that estimate is based on a very extensive admission of facts, which is expected byt hasn't been finalized.  "I'm very encouraged by what has transpired in recent weeks," the special prosecutor added.

He told the judge that the three accused former government aides - Bob Virk, Dave Basi and his cousin Aneal Basi - want to re-elect a trial by jury, so will have to attend Wednesday's hearing.

The judge agreed to allow Aneal Basi, who is working in Montreal, to appear by video conferencing.

{Snip} ...

Read Neal Hall's full column HERE.


"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Comments:
Hmmm!

So they ARE going for a jury trial.

That is interesting. And it may make for quite a spectacle as well.

I've always heard it said that a guity plaintiff wants his case heard by judge alone because the chances of getting off on a technicality are better.

Given the new judge in the cockpit I guess the accused have decided they're better off, as innocent men, to give the real power back to the people, so to speak.

Be nice to spend a few weeks in Vancouver in the spring this year - maybe I'll run into you Mary.
 
Lawyer folk wisdom often points to choosing a jury if a case has emotional appeal, and choosing a judge if a case is complex and based on technical legal questions.
 
bcrailgirl,

Please edit your comment so that the jury (if any) for the Basi Virk trial gets a fair introduction ...

yes, they will have a difficult situation to deal with ...
.
 
Well, it shouldn't be difficult to find an untainted jury pool, thanks to the virtual self-imposed publication ban by the Canned Waste/Glow Ball drones.

As long as a potential juror isn't a regular reader of this blog, Bill T's or the infamous House, they should be good to go.

It crossed my mind too that perhaps defendants like the Basi-Virk crew, should be expected to sign a waiver re:exposure to information regarding the case by potential jurors, otherwise this "pretence" of wanting a trial by judge for over a half a decade might seem like tawdry strategy. Of course as I indicated above, except for the 16 or so cultists in BC Mary's coven, thanks to our sorry excuse for media, 99% of the population of BC are unaware of the issue or think it was resolved years ago.

[strike]Toilet[/strike]Throne Speech today in James Bay - Whoop-de-Doo-Doo!
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
Shhhhhhhh!! Now you've given mainstream media a reason to blather it all over the front pages of every paper in BC!! Just wait...now they'll ask for a change of venue 'cuz the defendants and the issues are too well known!
 
Leah, Don't imagine only I could think of this........hell, it is difficult to say a change of venue is necessarily wrong. Perhaps a venue that wasn't under the direct control of Lord Gord and his appointees, like in some other jurisdiction, entirely!

Indeed, if those involved were dumb enough to not consider this, then "spilling the beans" denies them the right to claim ignorance. Perhaps the fact that they have demanded trial by judge for what, six years now? might be reason to deny trial by jury at this late date and they have to go with the judge hand-picked to replace the original judge for whatever reason.

The whole deal stinks to high heaven, like the dead skunk in the middle of the road.
 
gee, I've never been a "cultist" before....
 
Same here Skookum...but I've been an "Ilk!" Damn proud of it too.
 
Skookum, it was one of the stenographers for the PAB, like Vaughn the failed music critic or puffy cheeked Keith Bald(facedLiar)drey who claimed BC Mary was one of about 16 or 17 cultists who cared at all about the theft of BC Rail.
 
Dear Koot,

We must, in fairness, give credit where it is due.

It was the Opposition Justice Critic, Fermit the Krog, who said privately

on the 5th anniversary of the BCR-CN deal, that only "19 people cared about BC Rail ..."

The interesting part is that Fermit the Krog actually held a press conference in Vancouver on July 15, 2009 (5th anniversary, when various other benefits to CN were triggered),

to take credit for our protest. Yeah.

It was in a private letter to a mutual friend that he slipped on a cow-pat and said what you said.

And my friend was so damn angry (and honest) that the letter was sent to me.

Someday I will publish his letter (I got permission from him to do so, when I confronted him ... and then he actually congratulated me on my good work ... sheesh! ... after stonewalling us throughout!).

That was the day I gave up on partisan politics.
.
 
I remember now, I think. It just seemed so logical that V or K would have said this to justify and excuse their inexcusable lack of journalistic integrity or effort!
 
Post a Comment



<< Home