Lawyer Duane Rhyno jailed for 30 days after breaking court order

A Halifax-area lawyerwas sentenced to 30 days in jail Friday for twice breaching a court order by contacting a woman he was ordered to stay away from in a human trafficking case.

Duane Rhyno of Lower Sackvillewas initiallyaccused of four counts ofbreachingthe court order,twice by talking to the woman on the telephone and twice by meeting her in person in a Dartmouth parking lot in February 2015.

He pleaded guilty in October tothe two in-person meetings. The other two counts have beenwithdrawn.

Speaking in Dartmouth provincial court, Judge Dan MacRury called Rhyno's decisiona very serious breach of a court order.

MacRury said one of the underlying foundations of the justice system is respect for the law. When someone breaches a court order, it places that whole foundation at risk, he said in rejecting Rhyno's request for a conditional sentence.

Lawyer's duty to uphold the law

The judge reminded Rhyno that when he became a member of the bar, he swore an oath to uphold the rule of law.

Granting a conditional discharge would be against the public interest and would send a wrong message that lawyers are above the law, MacRury said.

An investigation into Rhyno's criminal case could result in a formal hearing before the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society.

When Rhyno testified in his own defence earlier this week, he told the court that contacting the woman was a "foolhardy"decision on his part and one made out of emotion.

Rhyno was charged in 2014 with human trafficking and sexual assault after being accused of selling the sexual services of the woman at a hotel in the Annapolis Valley. The charges were later dropped.

Now facing barristers' society hearing

In court Wednesday, Rhyno said he had a long on-again, off-again relationship with the woman.Rhyno said she was a prostitute with a cocaine addiction.

Given Rhyno's jail sentence, the barristers' society which governs the province's lawyers will bring his case before a complaints committee early next week to discuss his status.

The society will also discuss whether Rhyno will be allowed to continue practising law once he is released from jail.

"The other thing we will need to deal with as an urgent matter is his practice, because he is a sole practitioner and there is nobody looking after his practice that we're aware of," DarrelPink, the society's executive director, said Friday.