Thursday, October 25, 2012

Ashley Smith inquest to proceed: Court

This is the right call. Here's the story from today's Sun:

TORONTO - A coroner's inquest slated to air explicit video of the abuse of a jailed teen who killed herself in a cell will be able to continue, a Divisional Court ruled on Wednesday.

Justice Joan Lax dismissed the motion to stay the proceedings in the case of troubled Ashley Smith who hanged herself in 1997 while in a solitary confinement cell in Kitchener.

Corrections Service Canada (CSC) was attempting to cover up the abuse Smith had to endure in jail, said Smith family lawyer Julian Falconer.

"A lot of what is going on is to drive these procedures into the ground. The Smith family won't give up. They (the CSC) don't want this public," said Falconer.

Coroner John Carlisle was supposed to hear pre-inquiry motions on Wednesday and screen the video but he adjourned proceedings to wait for the court's ruling.

"We have a motion for an emergency stay. We do not want to proceed and we are challenging the coroner's decision (to allow the video)," said federal government lawyer Nancy Noble.

The CSC argued that the video should stay out of the public eye so it didn't taint the jury pool for the inquest which will start Jan. 14, 2013.

Eighteen lawyers were able to convince Lax that should not be the case.


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