Judge's 'unfairness' upends murder case, leads to charge being downgraded to manslaughter
CBC
New Brunswick Crown prosecutors agreed to downgrade a man's murder charge, allowing him to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter following complaints by his lawyer that the judge in the case had acted unfairly.
Joshua Raines was originally charged with second-degree murder in the March 2023 homicide of Lucas Polchies of Kingsclear First Nation.
Polchies was found suffering from a gunshot wound along the side of a road near Fredericton and later died in hospital.
On Friday, Raines pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the Office of the Attorney General consented to letting him re-elect a trial in provincial court instead of Court of King's Bench.
"The plea of the lesser included offence [of manslaughter] is something that you had jurisdiction over to deal with," Nathan Gorham said to Court of King's Bench Justice E. Thomas Christie on Friday.
"And because we did not have a path forward before this court to efficiently deal with this, the parties have chosen to consent — both of us — to have the matter tried in a court, where there will not be difficulties regarding unfairness that exist in this court."
Gorham said Raines being allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter came what he called unfair conduct by Christie in the pretrial stages of the murder case.
Gorham said he believes Christie acted unfairly by pushing ahead with scheduling court dates in Raines's case that conflicted with court dates Gorham already had scheduled for other cases.
Gorham said when he raised the issue in court, Christie decided to rule on whether he should recuse himself, which he later found "no basis for," according to Christie's written decision.
That prompted Gorham to file a formal application for a hearing to raise evidence arguing for Christie's recusal.
A pre-hearing brief filed by Crown prosecutors in response to that application showed they agreed that a hearing on the application should be held.
However, Christie rejected the request during a court appearance on Monday, Gorham said.
"And so the judge swept it aside anyway, in the face of what both lawyers had said, and then the Crown agreed to this consent procedure that had the practical effect of recusal, right?" Gorham said after Friday's proceedings.
"Because it brings it into another court to be dealt with in another fashion."
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