BDSM MEDIA NEWS!!!!
November 21, 2013
Judicial review of judge pictured naked in bondage gear collapses over bias claims
Source: Ca.news.yahoo.com. - Ca.news.yahoo.com - Canada
CANADA - A long and chaotic inquiry by the Canadian Judicial Council
, into sexual harassment allegations against a Manitoba judge has collapsed after a committee conducting the review abruptly resigned Wednesday.Manitoba Associate Chief Justice Lori Douglas's career on the bench is in jeopardy over claims by a former client of her lawyer husband that he was sent sexually explicit photos of Douglas, still a practising lawyer at the time, along with an invitation to have sex with her.
The judicial council's committee began looking into the sordid allegations in September 2011, but the inquiry has dragged on far longer than expected. It became sidetracked when Douglas accused participants of bias and took her claims to Federal Court.
In its news release, the council said the public interest would not be served "by ongoing delays, public expenditures and uncertainty about the process itself."
The five-member committee, which includes three judges, issued a
lengthy explanation, of its reasons for resigning.
The inquiry hearings were halted in late July 2012, after Douglas demanded it be shut down over an apprehension of bias based on the aggressive way the council's lawyer questioned witnesses favourable to Douglas.
The situation devolved into finger-pointing and jurisdictional wrangling over whether the council's workings could be challenged in court and by whom.
The committee said it could take a year or more for things to be untangled.
"We have concluded that the course of action most likely to be effective in returning the focus of the inquiry to where it belongs is for the committee to resign to allow for the appointment of a new inquiry committee," the committee said in its statement.
"The public interest in avoiding the further costs and delays inherent in resolving most issues raised by the judge’s judicial review application must prevail. This consideration trumps all others. Accordingly, we hereby resign as members of the committee effective immediately."
Douglas faced four misconduct allegations, the most serious of which related to the claims by Winnipeg resident Alex Chapman that her husband, Jack King had tried to solicit his client to have sex with his wife.
King has admitted sending Chapman photos of a nude Douglas, some in bondage positions, and also posting pictures of her on a sex web site without her knowledge.
Douglas is also accused of failing to mention the situation when she was being reviewed for her appointment to the Manitoba bench.
Douglas has been on paid leave since stepping aside as a judge in 2010 when the allegations came to light, drawing her $315,000 annual salary.
The case has been followed closely within the legal community, as much for the arcane legal issues raised by Douglas's fight with the review committee as for the salacious details themselves.
University of Manitoba law professor Karen Busby told
Lawyers Weekly, last June that the interests of justice wouldn't be served by continuing the hearing while Douglas is challenging its impartiality in court.
“So it’s not a frivolous case,” she said. “And for that reason I think the process needs to be respected and this matter [of alleged apparent bias] should be determined before the main inquiry hearing is reconvened.”
But now it won't be and the council suggested in its announcement that it may not want to start again from scratch.
"In due course, another inquiry committee may be appointed in respect of Associate Chief Justice Douglas."
See larger photo:
ca.news.yahoo.com.
