A dramatic jump in Manitoba's homicide rate means provincial Crown attorneys are scrambling to keep up with the increased workload and some complex files are being handed to junior lawyers who prosecute cases beyond their abilities.
New data released Thursday tells an alarming tale about Manitoba's murder rate.
In 2007, there were 62 homicides reported in the province -- the highest since records started being kept in 1961 -- and 23 more than in 2006.
The homicide rate here is 5.2 per 100,000 people, giving Manitoba the dubious honour of having the highest murder rate in the country. The next worst is Saskatchewan at 3.0.
The national rate is 1.8 per 100,000 people.
While it's well-known homicide investigations rapidly tax police resources as officers chase down leads, make arrests and carefully collect evidence, other areas of the provincial justice system are also feeling the pinch.
Justice sources said Thursday that having a limited number of senior, experienced Crown attorneys means an increasing number of young prosecutors are being forced to take on murder cases. Often they are paired against some of the best defence lawyers in town, resulting in a dramatic courtroom mismatch that can have severe ramifications.
A veteran justice official, who didn't want his name published, told the Free Press recently there is growing concern about the quality of prosecutions.
Defence lawyers have also complained of the rising number of direct indictments, in which the government agrees to send a person straight to trial without having a preliminary hearing.
There have been several examples in recent years where cases have fallen apart at trial because of witnesses who change their stories or refuse to co-operate.
Lawyers say these kinds of "weak" cases could be identified -- and perhaps addressed -- had they gone to preliminary hearing.
But many lawyers believe a lack of time and resources means justice officials are being forced to take shortcuts by eliminating a crucial step in the process. And they say that could mean people who are wrongly accused of a killing could slip through the cracks.
"If corners have to be cut, what does that do to public safety?" Crown attorney Lisa Carson said Thursday.
Increased workloads for the 100 or so criminal prosecutors in Manitoba means "there's potential for mistakes, for things to be missed and that's obviously a real concern," Carson said.
Given that jury trials typically take two weeks or more to complete, the added murder files mean there's an estimated 100 added weeks of time that a relatively small group of public prosecutors will be tied up in court at trials in coming years.
The impact of this is compounded by the fact that many times two Crown attorneys are assigned to homicide cases.
"There's a whole lot of high-stress-level people really scrambling -- we've got professionals who really want to do a good job, but when you're stuck in a position where you're just too tight for time, it's difficult," said Carson, who is also the president of the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys.
Don Slough, director of public prosecutions for Manitoba Justice, admitted Thursday while resources like courtroom and preparation time for Crowns are taxed by an influx of homicide cases, there's no indication the department can't handle it.
"There's no question it's a strain on resources because they take up a lot of court time, which of course means Crowns aren't doing other things. But I don't have any sense that we're not able to deal with it," Slough said.
"There hasn't been an occasion where we've said, 'well, who are we going to give this to?'"
Also of grave concern to prosecutors is the fact that more than half of last year's homicides involved charges against underage youths.
It's largely an indication of how entrenched the gang and drug cultures have become in the province.
In a recent interview, the Crown attorney supervising youth prosecutions in Manitoba said the majority of the unit's 11 full-time prosecutors carry a caseload of 200 to 250 open files at any given time.
Jo-Ann Natuik said the few lawyers who handle "more serious" youth matters like homicides handle in the range of 150 to 200, a huge amount of work considering the detailed nature of murder prosecutions.
-- with files from Canwest News Service
james.turner@freepress.mb.ca
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