T’S 8:30 a.m. on a Monday. The mad-

ness hour has begun in the Crown

Counsel office ar North Vancouver
provincial court.

Crown prosecutor C.B. fohnsen has to inter-
view nine witnesses before a trial slared to start
in 60 minutes.

“It doesn’t give you alot of time,” said
Johnson. He has been a fawyer for four years, All
of that time has been spent as a Crown.

As is the situation in most trials, Johnson will
be talking to the witnesses for the first rime,

The first witness in the office is nervous, He
is clad in a dark suitand work socks. The North
Van man taps his extended leg on the floor,

He says he was driving his truck down West
Keith Road near fones Avenue fast Nov. 25 when
a car going in reverse hic the front of his vehicle.

“T really had a hard time caring about his
condition. 1 thought the police would handle
that,” said the man to questions about whar hap-
pened after the crash.

Johnson, 30, speaks softly as he goes over details.

_ Minutes later, witness number nwo sits down in
Johnson’s office. The lawyer glances at four mies-
sages just handed to him before he takes his seat
and concentrates on this witness’ information.

The witness was a passenger in the truck.

Asks Johnson, “What was the force of impact?”

The witness looks puzzled.

“How hard did you hie” he asks. Ten min-
utes later and a cheerful witness number three
sits down. She was on her way home from the
corner store and saw teenagers taunting and
teasing the driver of the car as he went by.

“No chance for the Bronco,” she says. The
woman adds that she has trouble talking about
directions in terms of cast and west. She uses
“up and down” the street.

Next in is the woman's teenage daughter as
witness number four. She was looking out her
bedroom window at the time of the crash. The
taunting teenagers run away after the vehicles
hit, the gir] explains with a nervous giggle.

By this time there are three police witnesses
to interview and less than 15 minutes to do it in.

Johnson brings two in at once. The lawyer's
voice is up to normal volume. He quickly speaks
to North Van RCMP constables Barry Kennedy
and Corry Pyne. ; ;

-. Johnson points out to Kennedy that through-
out the police paperwork, the truck is referred to
as a Ford Bronco when it is a Chev Blazer.

‘. 4 Johnson spends even less time with expert

_ witness, Cpl. David Fieid, of the North Van
Mounties. Field is a collision reconstructionist
who analyzed the car’s reverse light to see if ir
was on before the crash.

Field has brought a booklet containing 14
color pictures relating to his investigation.

‘ . Johnson quickly moves the yellow stickies on
each picture to a photocopy of the booklet. He
will give the color job to the judge.

Johnson tells Field hell talk to him more
during the morning break. :

On the’way out of the office,

Johnson talks to yet another witness
waiting in Crown Counsel reception.
The witness is there fora different
case. They talk on the-way up stairs.

‘ The North Vancouver courthouse
‘is'an unobtrusive building standing in

" the 200-block of East 23rd Street. Thousands of |

law-abiding North Vancouverites are familiar
with the spot. North Van High used to be there
before it was torn down,

Currently there are four Crown Counsels and
an administrative Crown working in North Van
provincial court. B.C.’s Ministry of Attorney
General pays them.

The B.C, Crown Counsel! Association has
been negotiating with the government since
1992 over the issue of workload: The govern-
ment isn’t budging and may be increasing the °
Crowns’ load significantly with a new Victims of
Crime Act slated to come into effect soon.

Johnson said the North Van prosecutors,
like Crowns in most places, are already working,
to capacity.

199
1993
1994

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

“Our job in the global way is to see that jus-
tice is done, We do that by presenting a case to
the court in the best way we can,” said Johnson.

“Iris in everybody’s interest that we do the
best job we can,” he says.

At 9:35 a.m. Johnson has his files and
Criminal Code book under his arm as he enters
courtroom nwo.

He is immediately surrounded by two
defence lawyers who propose adjournments for
their clients to another day.

No problem.

Johnson looks for the accused person in his
crash trial. Kamran Shoghii is charged with dri-’
ving without due care and attention.

Shoghli does not have a lawyer
any more, He wants to have a trial.

It’s 9:40 a.m. and the sheriff calls
out, “All rise.” Judge Ellen Burdett .
enters the courtroom. Johnson quick-

- dy deals with the two adjournments.
Shoghli tells the judge he “just has
a statement” to give to the court.

Says Burdett, “ A statement ona piece of
paper is not evidence.” The court is adjourned so
that Johnson and Shogli can meet.

The actual trial gets rolling at 9:50 a.m. The
case for the Crown is finished at 11:50 a.m.

This trial will continue into the afternoon.
There are two more wials to start then. There is
also a continuation of a domestic assault case
booked.

* Johnson has prepared for all of them during a
camping outing with his young son over the
weekend. There are still at least a dozen witness-
es to interview. ;

Says Johnson, “Everyone is keen on justice
and the protection of society. They want to hire
more police. It goes beyond the police.”

Sunday, June 30, 1996 ~ North Shore News ~ 3

FTERNOON court opened

Monday with a bit of a break

or Crown lawyer C.B.
Johnson.

The administrative Crown in North
Van provincial court, Sandra Watson,
stepped in to help and handled the first
court appearances of four teenagers. The
young men were charged in connection
with.a violent extortion three days

_ before. Judge Ellen Burdett ordered one
‘teen detained in custody. The other three

were released with restrictions.-

Outside the courtroom, Johnson gets
word that the victim in one of ;
the trials booked for the after-
noon is not going to show.

“She has been served,” says
Johnson calmly to the news.

In court, Johnson orga- A;
nizes his stack of files as a Farsi !
interpreter is sworn for an accused. :

Judge Burdett states that there was
really no way that the case could be heard
that day. Ie muse be rebooked.

A Punjabi interpreter is then sworn for
the next scheduled trial. The accused
Satna] Singh Mangat is charged with fail-
ing to maintain the air brakes on his com-
mercial dump truck and trailer.

The vehicle was filled with sand when
it rolled on Mount Seymour Road. The
incident happened a week after a spectac-
ular fatal truck crash on the Cut last year.

Johnson’s four Crown witnesses, all
RCMP officers, are waiting outside.

Judge Burdett asks the clerk ¢:: see if
the other courtroom could handie the

-The numbers of cases above indicate cf least a first appearance in North Vancouver Provincial Court.
-The amount of time spent on each charge in court was no? available.

NEWS graphic Cathioen Powell

. it.”

NEWS Reporter Anna Marie D'Angelo
wrote these stories after acconipanying a
Crown prosecutor in North Vancouver
provincial court on a typical day.

case. [tis booked solid for the rest of the
day.

The judge explains that the man must
come back to set a date for another tial,

Johnson goes our to send the police
officers away. One has come down from
Nakusp at taxpavers’ expense specifically
for the trial.

The time is 2:45 p.m. and there are
two trial continuations left to do in the
courtroom,

Judge Burdett decides to hear the
domestic assault case as it is at least the
third time this trial has had to be stopped
because of lack of court time.

At 3:30 p.m. the assault case is rolling.
The accused is in the witness box being
asked questions by his lawyer.

He states his common-law wife of six
months took him for $106,000. He owes
the government $27,000 in taxes because
the money came out of his RRSPs.

Both parties are suing each other. The
man says he was set up for a physical
assault charge.

Johnson sits at the lawyer's table mak-
ing notes of the man’s testimony.

At 3:45 p.m. Johnson starts to metic-
ulously cross examine the witness,

At4:15 p.m. Judge Burdett interrupts |
and asks the man from the morning trial
to come forward, ;

Says Burdett, “It’s obvious, we are
not going to get to your case to finish

He must come back and rebook a trial"
date.The 8:30 a.m. witnesses shuffle out.
of the courtroom at 4:45 p.m. They too
must come back if they are interested in
the outcome of this trial. a

At 4:45 p.m. Burdett again interrupts
Jchnson and stands down the assault case
to yet another day. _ ;

. “For the fifth time,” says the accused.

* At4:50 p.m., 20 minutes after the,
courtroom should have been closed, a
15-year-old boy is brought in through
the prisoner’s door. :

He is alleged to be the “unknown”
accomplice in a court case held in anoth-.
er courtroom that morning.’ a

The boy was a witness for the defence
at the trial until he was identified’as a co
accused. The boy was arrested. 2°) 0.

Johnson went over details of the rob-" »-
bery allegations against the teenager and
restrictions the Crown would like should.
the judge decide to release him. |. 5."

The boy stood with his hands on his’.
hips the whole time. The judge discussed

_ conditions ef his immediate
release. © 2 a
The boy said a:9 p.m. cur-(
few was kind of strict for. - :
“some stupid thing” he was
alleged to have done.
Wirhour pause, Judge. wi
Burdett decided to keep him in jail until a:
hearing the next morning. 7

Johnson returned to his office and
worked until after 6 p.m. when he took
work home to prepare for.different trials.
the next day.

“What keeps most of us going is that
it is very rewarding and satisfying to pur-
sue the ends of justice,” he said.

This particular Monday was a typical
day for Johnson. He is in court four out
of five days a weeks

“The one thing [ can say is that you
build your knowledge for trials. You get.
that non-stop in provincial court,” said
Johnson. ; :

The building of knowledge carries ori.

overall
increase

source: Dato Management & Resource Analysis Group, Court Services Branch, Victoria