Georgetown man found guilty of slashing judge's tires
CBC
A Georgetown man has been found guilty of criminal mischief for slashing the tires of a provincial court judge while she was presiding in the eastern P.E.I. community in February.
Jeff Clory, 56, will return to Charlottetown court for sentencing in January.
In finding Clory guilty of vandalizing Judge Nancy Orr's car, Judge Jeff Lantz cited the defendant's testimony in his own defence last month.
"The testimony in this case, to put it mildly, was not very credible," Lantz said Wednesday, calling it "some of the worst testimony I have ever heard" and adding: "I don't believe a vast majority of it."
When interviewed by police shortly after the incident outside Georgetown courthouse, Clory insisted he couldn't have been the person who pulled up on a snowmobile and slashed Orr's tires because he had been in Montague all that morning.
But during the one-day trial in October, after his cellphone records called that alibi into question, he testified he'd been back and forth to Montague multiple times that day, saying his girlfriend could back him up.
"An alibi always carries more weight when it is brought up at the earliest opportunity," said Lantz. "It was brought up only at trial, as far as I know."
As well, Lantz accepted the testimony of Clory's ex-wife, who reluctantly testified that she happened to be driving by the courthouse as the tires were slashed and recognized the perpetrator as her former husband.
"I found her to be a credible witness," the judge said. "She did not want to be in court.… She feared retaliation."
Lantz also said there was proof Clory had a grudge against Orr — citing Clory's own testimony.
"He was obviously very bitter with how he was treated by Judge Orr," said Lantz, just before the Crown provided information about Clory's two previous convictions for mischief.
The judge denied Clory's request to be sentenced right away on Wednesday, saying the incident in Georgetown raises serious concerns and he wants to see a pre-sentence report.
Just before Lantz started delivering his decision, Clory told the court he no longer wanted to use the legal-aid lawyer assigned to him, opting to represent himself.
"You may want to reconsider your decision to go without a lawyer," Lantz told him near the end of the proceedings.