PreTrial Judge Conducting Trial Not Error In Law

There is no doubt that a criminal pretrial judge ought not to conduct the trial of the case pretried (taking a plea and joint submission is a different matter).

That said, the Court of Appeal in R v Gregoire 2008 ONCA 459 has ruled that there is no reversible error arising simply because a pretrial judge has gone ahead and heard trial. Absent either a clear objection from a party or some demonstrable prejudice, a pretrial judge's decision to try the case itself is not an error in law.