The ReeveLaw Blog

No wonder the police didn’t want to release this video. “Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times, emptying his gun and preparing to reload. Van Dyke spent 13 seconds firing as McDonald lay motionless on the street. Van Dyke had already logged 18 civilian complaints for a variety of allegations, including claims of misconduct and excessive force. The city paid out more than $500,000 to settle the complaints.”

The city of Chicago tried to keep dash-cam footage of police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald sealed for more than a year.

Source: Graphic Footage Shows Chicago Cop Facing Murder Charge Spray Teen With Bullets | VICE News

No, there is not an epidemic of children overdosing on shatter.

Source: Vancouver Police Had To Apologize After Freaking Out Over Shatter | VICE | Canada

A CBC News investigation has discovered cyber-criminals are hacking into company computer systems and using public profiles of top executives to fine-tune email scams that are duping Canadians out of hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Source: Ransomware, bogus emails from your ‘boss’ mark growing skill of cyber-criminals – Technology & Science – CBC News

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau directed his Minister of Justice in a public mandate to implement this goal by the end of his first term. If legalization is the inevitable and unanimous policy of the governing body, why is it illegal now? How can judges allow any marijuana charge to proceed in their court while the new government has clearly promised to legalize marijuana? All Crown attorneys should no longer lay any kind of marijuana charges since all of them will be adjourned or appealed once the government legalizes.”

If legalization is the inevitable and unanimous policy of the governing body, why is it illegal now?

Source: Marc Emery: In Canada, cannabis regulation is the new prohibition | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s News & Entertainment Weekly

Columnist Gary J. Ross explains how NOT to treat the client.

Source: 9 Ways To Lose Clients | Above the Law

Win clients with this simple question – 

This post is by Ian Hu, claims prevention and practicePRO counsel at LAWPRO I vividly remember losing one of my first potential clients. He was shopping for lawyers and had whittled his list down to three or four. I had dealt with legal issues exactl

Source: Win clients with this simple question – Slaw

“The Tories tried hard to tie judges’ hands by bringing in a slew of mandatory minimum sentences for crimes including those involving guns, drugs, and sex abuse. They also imposed a victim surcharge that criminals must pay, even if they have no money. And made it harder to get pardons.” And that’s just the area of criminal law.

Canadian law on Stephen Harper’s watch became heedless of civil rights, contemptuous of the judiciary, unreasonably punitive, and unfriendly to minorities and refugees.

Source: Trudeau must fix Harper’s ugly legacy of over-reaching legislation: Editorial | Toronto Star

How can this be a bad thing? “The changes mark a fundamental shift to a less “punitive” approach to criminal justice. Many of the criminal justice reforms brought in over the last decade were ad hoc and ineffective. They were rapid-fire reforms and often came without a lot of in-depth study and certainly without a lot of understanding about how all of these reforms would affect one another,”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered a major overhaul of Canada’s criminal justice system. The ministers of justice and public safety have been given mandates to review and dump some changes to laws the Conservatives brought in and bring in new ones, including the legalization of marijuana.

Source: Trudeau mandates pot legalization, overhaul of Conservative justice reforms

American police “have begun sitting in their cars while crimes occur” because they don’t want to be held accountable by being video recorded and “that filming cops is causing an increase in crime”. “Cops refusing to do their jobs is not the fault of activists; it is the fault of those officers who have so injured trust that residents hate and fear police.” Echoes of our police attitude refusing to comply with the new ban on carding.

The FBI Director’s comment that viral videos have led to an increase in crime may instead indicate that police are on strike.

Source: The Real Meaning of the FBI Director’s Comment on Viral Videos and Crime

“I recognize the need to empower judges and to uphold the discretion that judges have in particular circumstances, and (will be) looking more fundamentally or broadly at the criminal justice system in terms of restorative justice and rehabilitation,” Justice Minister Wilson-Raybould said. “Not just simply being tough on crime.” I’m looking forward to a renewed respect from this government for and dialogue with the courts and its judges.

Newly appointed Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says the government will review the use of mandatory minimum sentences brought in under the former Conservative government’s “tough on crime” agenda.

Source: Liberals will review controversial mandatory minimums: justice minister | CTV News