The youth charged with killing Darius Brown almost three weeks ago has yet to have a bail hearing because the lawyers in the case can’t agree which court it should be held before.
The accused, whose name cannot be published because he was a youth when he was charged, is seeking to have his bail hearing heard before a Quebec Superior Court judge. His lawyer, Andrew Barbacki, has filed a motion arguing that Quebec’s Youth Court does not have exclusive jurisdiction over whether a youth charged with murder can be released while their case is pending.
The Crown has already requested that the youth be sentenced as an adult if he is convicted of second-degree murder. Barbacki is arguing that since his client can potentially be sentenced as an adult, his bail hearing should be held by a court more used to dealing with cases involving murder.
During a hearing on the motion held at the Montreal courthouse on Tuesday, before Superior Court Justice Hélène Di Salvo, prosecutor Mélanie Rose argued that the goal of youth court legislation adopted in 2003, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, “was to seal off the (youth court) system” from all other courts in Canada.
Brown, a 17-year-old Notre-Dame-de-Grâce resident, was stabbed to death on Nov. 17 on Westminster Ave. in Côte-St-Luc. The accused was also 17 at the time of the stabbing.
Di Salvo will deliver her decision on the motion on Dec. 16.
