Massive trial during pandemic causing massive N.S. court headaches

It would be a huge logistical challenge even without a pandemic. But now, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge and more than a dozen lawyers are trying to figure out how and where to conduct a trial involving 15 accused.

The men are facing charges, including attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, for the vicious beating of an inmate at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facilityin Dartmouth, N.S., in December. The 46-year-old victim suffered life-threatening injuries but has since recovered.

The accused will be triedby judge alone. As it stands now, 14 of the 15 accused have lawyers. One of them, Kaz Cox, is still looking for counsel. There are two Crown prosecutors.

On Tuesday, some of the lawyers met with Justice Jamie Campbell, who said with all the accused, their lawyers, Crowns and sheriffs all gathered in one place, the number would quickly exceed crowd sizes allowed under the province'sCOVID-19 restrictions.

Neptune Theatre?

Tuesday's meeting followed the hybrid model Nova Scotia courts have adopted in the pandemic: only the judge and one of the lawyers were actually present in the courtroom; the rest appeared by phone.

Campbell suggested it might be possible to use two courtrooms at the Law Courts building in downtown Halifax and connect the two rooms with video links. However, the judge cautioned there would have to be legal research done to see whether such an arrangement would satisfy the basic legal requirements for a fair trial.

One of the defence lawyers suggested renting space from another facility in Halifax such as Neptune Theatre. Campbell noted that this is "not an undertaking that every facility welcomes with open arms."

The Law Courts have been determined to be too small to handle jury trials because of the large number of people who would be called for jury duty.

Two auxiliary courts are being constructed in the Burnside industrial park, not far from the jail where this assault occurred. Those courts will handle the more than 30 jury trials that have been postponed so far because of the pandemic.

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