Although it is not suprising that Heather Anderson was shocked that Michael Rabeau was allowed to rescind his guilty pleas to killing a 4 month old Husky puppy
http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/alberta/2009/07/14/10124676-sun.html
it was absolutely the right decision by Provincial Court Judge Frank Maloney. Ms. Anderson is correct, that "[g]uilty pleas should be made to stay" -- most of the time. However, if the guilty plea does not support the essential elements of the offence or when the accused argues he should be sentenced more leniently because he was defending himself, then a judge has a responsibilty to ensure the guilty plea is proper. A judge is an argus of justice, and as such, is not sitting merely to rubber stamp guilty pleas.
The more troubling question concerns the guilty plea itself. If Mr. Rabeau was indeed defending himself, then why did he plead guilty?
David G. Chow
Criminal Defence Lawyer
www.calgarydefence.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment