Guilty plea for judge's adopted daughter

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This article was published 23/1/2009 (4421 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE adopted daughter of a Manitoba judge has pleaded guilty to a pair of robberies in which she sprayed her victims with bear mace.

Jessica Linda Smith, 20, will be sentenced later this year once a judge can be brought in from Saskatchewan to hear the case.

Her lawyer, Hymie Weinstein, said justice officials want to avoid any perception of bias by having the case heard by someone with no link to his client's mother, provincial court Judge Marva Smith.

"For the sake of appearances it makes sense," said Weinstein.

William Burge, a prosecutor from Saskatchewan, has already been assigned the case and was in court Friday. He agreed that Smith could remain free on bail pending her sentencing on two charges of robbery with a weapon. Additional charges of possession of a prohibited weapon, wearing a disguise and five breaches of bail were stayed.

The two robbery incidents, which can be best described as street-level muggings, occurred in March 2008. Smith appeared in court Friday with her biological mother at her side. Judge Smith, who adopted her as a young child, was not present.

Marva Smith made national headlines in 2006 when she presented a bouquet of flowers and movie passes to a young girl she was sentencing for a violent robbery. The gift was her "reward" to the teen for seemingly making progress in her life after being spared a jail sentence.

Smith is a former defence lawyer who also worked for the province's constitutional law branch before being appointed to the bench in 1999.

www.mikeoncrime.com