Hi Charles,
JUSTICE DENIED!
Repeated requests by Blogger Charles Leblanc for court transcripts are blocked by the court.
Our justice system is fueled by court documents. Lawyers rely on transcripts to keep track of the court proceedings.
Charles is representing himself. He needs access to the court transcripts so that he has a record of witness testimony and cross-examination. Without this record, he does not have the actual statements to prepare for future questioning of witnesses and the Crown.
After his 5th appearance in the courtroom for this case, Charles asked for a copy of the transcripts that had been collected to date. But justice was denied.
First Charles filled out the application for transcripts and submitted it to the Provincial Court office. He returned 2 weeks later and the transcript records were all ready for him in a pile of papers. But the Court office told Charles that he would have to pay $399 for the transcripts. When Charles said he was on social assistance and could not afford to pay that amount, the Court office told him he could not have the transcript. There was no recourse offered to Charles.
Does the Court office not have a copy machine? It takes 30 seconds to put a pile of papers in a copier, press "Copy to PDF", and make a digital copy of the papers. Why was Charles not offered a digital copy of the transcript on a CD or memory stick?
Next, Charles asked Minister of Justice Stephen Horseman for help and he arranged to have a justice lawyer meet with him. The Justice Department employee told Charles he would not get copies of the transcripts.
Finally, in today's appearance in front of Judge Brian McLean, Charles asked the court for an explanation why he was denied a copy of the transcripts. He spent the next half-hour pleading with the court to provide him these transcripts. It was a futile exercise and laid bare how uncaring the whole legal system was towards people on social assistance. Not one person in that courtroom - the judge, the Crown Prosecutor, the City of Fredericton police force - offered to ask the Court office if there was a way to provide these transcripts to Charles.
First he was denied a lawyer by Legal Aid. Now the system has denied him access to transcripts.
Is someone going to come forward and find a way to get these transcripts to Charles? City of Fredericton? Mayor and Council? Crown Prosecutor's Office?
The silence is deafening.
Would it not be possible for Mayor Woodside to ask someone in the Provincial Court to "Copy to PDF"? Here is an easy-to-understand YouTube that shows how this is quickly done on a copy machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ-lTx26JNg
How to Scan Documents (2:47) April 28, 2011
The photocopier in our office has NO save feature. NO copy to PDF feature. NO ability to copy a photographed page.
ReplyDeleteIt simply copies a page as it was built to do.
While there are photoiers thwt do as the writer suggests. The writer suggests it's a simple matter. I assure you with not all photocopiers doing these features. It isn't a simple matter.
Ha! Government Departments DO have access to photocopiers with this function. Perhaps the Justice Department could spend time on helping citizens instead of trolling blogger sites.
ReplyDeleteA photcopier in The Court of NB should be up to date.There must be an operator to understand the workings of the machine, and able to operate it. Very clearly, this information is being "held back" by those in power.This is late 2015, technology has changed substantially. "He who holds the Gold, makes the rules". Tax Payer John
ReplyDeleteThe trascribers use software to listen and transcribe by typing into a document. This final transcript is then sworn to be correct. The transcribers obviously have the transcript on their computers and I have no doubt the court is provided a pdf on disk, or sent via email. Charles was told - in March - Julian Dickson re fused to grant him the court audios, which would have been $20,. The court admin told him he could have the transcripts instead. It took them until mid August to get the transcripts - can you see them asking lawyers and judges to wait six months? Then they told him he had to pay $399. This was obviously planned - if he was allowed the transcripts, why not the $20 audio? Of course - because they did not want him to have any of the records of these corrupt proceedings!
ReplyDeleteThe Fredericton Police Force and the Legal System are corrupt.
ReplyDelete