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view related press release "Wrong place, wrong time" isn't just an expression. It could land you in jail. "Dean" was a Nova Scotia university student out with some friends one weekend night. The evening's festivities eventually brought him to another person's house, where Dean settled in for a while. But the party ended in a hurry when police raided the home, acting on information that marijuana was being grown in the basement. It was, and the police arrested and charged everyone on the premises - including Dean, who knew nothing about the marijuana until the police busted in. Dean suddenly found himself charged with cultivation of marijuana, along with everyone else in the house. But there was no evidence connecting him to the crime other than the fact that he was found on the site. Not only that, he had a very reasonable explanation as to why he was there. Anxious to prove his innocence, he refused to plead guilty, intending to fight the charges in court. But that was going to prove an even greater problem. As soon as he was charged, Dean was fired from his job. Without any source of income, he applied to Legal Aid to help hire a lawyer. But because Nova Scotia Legal Aid won't fund anyone charged with what they call an "enterprise crime," they turned him down. Dean appealed that decision to the review panel, but was again refused legal aid. As a result, Dean had to face the legal system alone, a process he found overwhelming. At one point, trying to select jury members, he was being threatened with contempt of court because he continued to maintain that he couldn't represent himself and needed a lawyer. Finally, a lawyer agreed to help him as a favour - as lawyers in these situations so often do - but he has no idea if he'll ever be paid for his work. This true story is the latest installment in the Canadian Bar Association's continuing "Legal Aid Watch," tracking the instances in which our underfunded legal aid system fails ordinary Canadians. People who just want to prove their innocence are denied the basic ability to seek legal assistance. Lawyers, who see first-hand how the underfunding and neglect of our legal aid system hurts Canadians, won't stop reporting these stories until governments accept their responsibility and fix legal aid once and for all.
