Hockey Canada trial

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Call me naive, but I’ve never heard of juries being dismissed and the judge deciding a case is going to be a bench trial. I’m in no way defending the defendants, but that seems totally bizarre that a judge can just say, oh, you wanted a jury trial? Even though we’re well into this trial, I’m deciding you are no longer entitled to a jury because a juror complained about a lawyer.

Rick Westhead on X: “Justice Maria Carroccia has discharged the jury in the trial of five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team after a juror complained that defence lawyers were acting unprofessionally, three weeks after a juror complaint about one of the same lawyers led to a” / X

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The defense agreed to continue without a jury

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Interesting.

So the defen(c)e thinks the players have a better chance of getting off with the judge deciding the case. Goes against conventional wisdom that you only need one juror to vote not to convict to overhaul a case.

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If the attorneys pissed off the jurors though (which it sounds like they did), I can see wanting the judge instead.

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Thanks, that makes sense. But that seems like a hell of a concession in a case that seemed 50/50 at best to result in convictions.