Court tosses another case due to conduct of Toronto Crown attorney Marnie Goldenberg. Judge cites ‘unacceptable negligence’
By Jacques Gallant Courts and Justice Reporter
A veteran Crown attorney who caused a criminal case to collapse after she berated a Toronto police officer in a courthouse hallway has seen a second case thrown out in the same month over her conduct.
A man’s charges of drug possession and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by a drug were stayed on May 15 due to the “unacceptable negligence” of Crown attorney Marnie Goldenberg and Toronto police in failing to preserve and disclose “highly important” video evidence that ended up being erased from police servers.
Ontario Court Justice Sean Gaudet concluded that the failure to provide the video — which Goldenberg initially said didn’t exist — had breached the accused man’s right to make full answer and defence to the charges.
It was the second judgment issued in May to be critical of Goldenberg, a prosecutor of 22 years who specializes in driving offences. On May 4, Ontario Court Justice Mara Greene stayed charges against a man accused of striking a police officer with a motorcycle after the judge found Goldenberg angrily told a cop who testified for the defence and whose evidence risked hurting the Crown’s case: “We protect our own.” Greene also found that Goldenberg was “less than candid” in her testimony about the courthouse hallway encounter and “did not provide the court with a fair and fulsome account of what took place.”