The Nova Scotia Judicial Council will create a review committee to investigate the actions of a provincial court judge, stemming from remarks made in open court.
The concerns were raised in a recent Nova Scotia Court of Appeal decision, where a conviction in a 2021 sexual assault case was quashed, in part because of comments made by Judge Alain Bégin.
Bégin was the trial judge who found a defendant, identified as K.J.M.J., guilty of sexual offences involving his stepdaughter.
K.J.M.J. appealed that decision, saying that prior to final argument, the judge made highly critical comments of his character and credibility, which showed bias.
According to the Court of Appeal’s decision, Bégin said in part: “Is he swimming with angels? Look at me, sir. Is he swimming at angels and totally innocent? Absolutely not. Does he have issues and invited some young child to do stuff to him? Absolutely. Zero doubt in my mind. He’s got issues. Yeah, I’m looking at you. You’ve got issues, sir. You’ve got sexual deviance issues. There’s no doubt in my mind. Is it proven here? Probably not. Do you have issues? Yeah, you do. You should get them fixed. Do you understand?”
The Court of Appeal’s decision later detailed how Bégin passed off those comments as “initial impressions,” which should not be in the record. Bégin indicated to the court reporter not to include those comments on the record.
“Remarkably, the judge wrote to the Court of Appeal in reply to a court-requested inquiry of court staff regarding a restriction placed on the audio recording of the trial. The judge claimed a purported ‘privilege’ which he did not ‘waive’ and questioned the Crown’s authority to authorize inclusion of his ‘initial impressions’ in the record,” the Court of Appeal’s decision read.
Bégin found K.J.M.J. guilty of sexual assault, touching a young person for a sexual purpose and inviting a young person to touch him for a sexual purpose. K.J.M.J. was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, which heard the appeal in October of this year, overturned that decision. The panel said the judge’s statements made before the trial “transcend injudicious musing.”
A new trial has been ordered.
“They displace the high bar of the presumption of judicial impartiality. They give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias. That apprehension is amplified, not dispelled, by the judge’s attempt to conceal the remarks provoking that apprehension,” the decision read.
Review committee members to be chosen
A release says the matter was referred to the Judicial Council earlier this week by Chief Judge Perry Borden.
The review committee will consist of a Provincial Court judge, a lawyer, and a public representative. The members will be selected by Chief Justice Deborah K. Smith of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia from names put forward by the Nova Scotia Provincial Judges’ Association, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, and Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Brad Johns.
Once the members are chosen, the committee will investigate and report back to the Nova Scotia Judicial Council.