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R. v. Wells
The defendant in this case pleaded guilty to the charge of Drive While Under Suspension. It was his first offence and he was not represented in court. The Justice of the Peace sentenced the defendant to jail for 15 days. Part of the reason that the jail sentence was imposed was because the Justice thought the defendant had ‘obviously refused to pay any fines’. The defendant tried to show the Justice documentation to the contrary – but he refused to look at it and sent Mr. Wells to jail. It was our view that the conduct of the Justice of the Peace in this matter was so inconsistent with the spirit and philosophy behind the Provincial Offences Act that we volunteered our services. The case was appealed and as a result of a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the trial Justice the charge was Stayed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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