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Proveing criminal negligence, in general, can be a difficult task for prosecutors. And in the case of an Ontario teacher facing this charge of drowning death of a student, legal experts claim that the Crown will face an unusual set of circumstances.
"Criminal negligence causing death is not," said Daniel Lerner, a Toronto-based defense attorney who was a former Ontario Crown attorney.
million. Lerner said that he had never seen similar cases before, where a teacher was accused of something that took place during a school trip.
"It's a bit unprecedented, but the only factor here is that accidents happen, accidents do not give rise to criminal charges.
The Ontario Provincial Police announced Thursday that Nicholas Mills, 54, was charged with criminal negligence causing death, one year after Jeremiah Perry, 15, drowned for a week at the park. Algonquin Provincial of Ontario. He went on a three day outdoor and canoe trip last July when he went swimming with his clbadmates in the evening and that he disappeared under the water. His body was found by a police rescue unit the next day.
Her family said that the teen did not know how to swim.
Jeremiah Perry, age 15, drowned while on a school canoe trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario in July 2017. (Submitted by the Perry family) [19659010] A Review a third party revealed that Jeremiah had not pbaded the mandatory Toronto District School Board Swim Test and was not wearing a lifejacket. Students were required to pbad the exam before going on a trip
The school board also reported that about half of the 33 students on the trip had failed the swimming test – which dealt with water safety, leg swimming and evaluation of underwater endurance -. According to the Ontario Provincial Police, Mills had organized the tour and was the team leader badigned to Jeremiah's group that day
"Marked Departure"
Under the Criminal Code, someone is considered guilty. criminal negligence if "by doing anything, or by failing to do everything that it is his duty to do, shows an indiscriminate or reckless disregard for the life or safety of others" [19659002"[The Crown] should prove that either the teacher committed a specific act or failed to do something that he was legally required to do," said Seth Weinstein, a Toronto criminal lawyer . "They must therefore prove one of these two requirements – not both."
According to legal scholars, the key is whether Mills' shares constituted a "marked departure" from the measures that 39, a reasonable person would take
. "We are looking for something far beyond what a reasonable person would have done, and something very serious has happened," Lerner said.
A factor in this case, he says, is the question of exactly what the school policy was regarding canoe trip: Was this policy followed, until the day of the trip? how well was this policy followed and, in particular, how did it relate to failed swimming tests? Canoe trip last July when he went swimming in the evening and disappeared under water (Grant Linton / CBC)
A number of specific details surrounding the tests and death of Jeremiah have not been publicly disclosed. he had put his own internal investigation on hold at the OPP management.
"In this canoe trip, there may have been these red flags and I think that's what creates the unique circumstance here – and you do not hear about it often", he said. Lerner said the case could boil down to questions such as what exactly does it mean to have failed the swim test.
Failing a swimming test, a person could only do six rounds instead of the seven needed. The person has been authorized to go on a trip that has met this standard.
"I can not imagine anyone saying that this is a marked deviation from what a reasonable person would have done," Lerner said.
But it could be quite different if this person had never been in the water before. They were terrified by the water, and that's why they failed their swim test – and they were later allowed to navigate by canoe in the middle of a lake, says Lerner
"He said."
Jeremiah's death also led the province to review the open-air education policies of all school boards in the province
.] Weinstein said that 39 is a "high threshold" for proving criminal negligence: for example, if a motorist accelerates or accelerates with alcohol in his system and causes an accident, this is often not enough to be charged with criminal negligence. [19659002] The fact that Jeremiah drowned during a school trip is not necessarily evidence that Mills was criminally negligent, even though he knew that he could not swim, declared Weinstein.
"You have to look at what are the circumstances that led to it? to swim: did he fall into the water? "[he] did he jump up with the teacher watching, we do not know, it 's not the same. is speculation.
Cases of criminal negligence are difficult, in part because, to be considered guilty, "you can not just commit an indictable offense, you must have a criminal mind," Lerner said.
"And one of the biggest difficulties in criminal law is how to balance the need to have a criminal mind in a case of negligence, and this is not an easy answer" , said Lerner
. : "If you look through the judgments of the Court, the courts have been everywhere."
Some Recent High-profile Cases Involving Criminal Negligence:
- In the case of the collapse of the Elliot Lake Mall, a former engineer was charged with criminal negligence. The judge concluded that his actions were "sloppy" – but not criminal – and he was acquitted.
- Earlier this year, three former railway employees accused of criminal negligence causing death in the Lac-Mégantic railway disaster in 2013 were acquitted.
- In 2017, Tamara Lovett was found guilty of criminal negligence causing death after the death of her seven-year-old son. She had used herbal remedies to treat a streptococcal infection and had never taken her to the doctor.
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