Judge's behaviour called 'astonishing'

The Globe and Mail
Fri 12 Sep 2008
Page: A7
Section: National News
Byline: Kirk Makin
Dateline: TORONTO
Source: JUSTICE REPORTER
TORONTO -- A senior Crown attorney told a judge's misconduct hearing yesterday that he was personally and professionally shattered when Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Cosgrove turned a murder trial into an investigation of a "giant, so-called conspiracy" by state officials.

Curt Flanagan, chief Crown attorney for a region in Eastern Ontario, said Judge Cosgrove acted on every innuendo and "scurrilous, malicious" accusation of wrongdoing hatched by Kevin Murphy, defence counsel for Julia Elliott.

"When a trial judge is making findings against a Crown attorney in relation to a so-called giant conspiracy, it has a tremendous effect," Mr. Flanagan said. "It was astonishing. I lost sleep over it. I was stressed by it.

"It was a shattering experience to be attacked professionally without any evidence. The most important thing to a lawyer is his credibility and integrity. "
Mr. Flanagan's impassioned account came on the final day of a Canadian Judicial Council inquiry into whether Judge Cosgrove was biased against the Crown and has lost his ability to function as a judge. After a raucous, 18- month trial ending in 1999, Judge Cosgrove stayed Ms. Elliott's murder charge and alleged 150 instances of perjury, fabricating evidence, obstructing justice and conspiracy by the Crown and police.
Ms. Elliott had been accused of murdering and decapitating her former lover, 64-year-old Larry Foster, on Aug. 18, 1995.
James Morton
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