Bad lawyer or no lawyer, this has to be the first time anyone in Canada has been held this long pre-trial under these circumstances for the alleged crime of mischief. There have been a lot of bad "firsts" in the last few years.
You’ve never show caused someone on a mischief before and seen them held? Ok then.
Mischief, like many criminal offences, covers a wide range of behaviour. That‘a why it’s a hybrid offense, with up to ten years of prosecuted by indictment. In her case, she was a very active party in encouraging mischief on a scale covering many city blocks and negatively affecting thousands of people. She continued the offense when the illegality of it was made clear, and she counseled others to. That’s relatively higher end. I’ve had people held in custody for quite a bit less.
Like any bail hearing, there are primary (court attendance) secondary (protection of the public and preventing continuation) and tertiary (confidence in the justice system) grounds considered by the court. Lich was detained on the secondary and tertiary grounds. The crown’s case is very strong, and throughout her offending she showed contempt for the law and attempts to see it enforced, and she encouraged and counseled others to as well. Continued offending is absolutely a valid concern.
One of the key tools to mitigate this and to allow for a bail plan is to provide a surety who will pledge themselves and often put up considerable sums to control the accused’s behaviour on release. In Lich’s case, her surety was crap, and her bail hearing was a dumpster fire. I don’t know if her lawyer sucked or was simply poorly instructed, but Lich failed to offer to court enough confidence that she would not reoffend and would abide by release conditions,
Similar story for Pat King.
If she comes up with a materially better plan, she will likely get bail. Not sure if what she offered up last week will suffice. Accusing the bail judge of political bias is unlikely to cut it.
