A businessman in Montreal was charged with mischief over $ 5,000 under Section 430(1)a) of the Criminal Code. The alleged offence dealt with a commercial premise he had rented, since he supposedly deteriorated the space when he moved out. Criminal charges were laid by the Crown. Consequently, the defendant was liable to be sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. Also, the plaintiff intended to use the criminal legal procedures to submit a financial claim of over $ 50,000 for damages.
Our criminal lawyer set a date for the hearing of a preliminary inquiry, in order to study in detail the Prosecutor’s evidence concerning the criminal intentions of the defendant as well as to find specific information about the amount claimed by the plaintiff. In our opinion, the incriminating evidence was flimsy.
The results of this procedure were to force the Crown to review the weakness of its evidence. Once the possible conviction was reassessed, the defendant represented by Mr Laurent Morin had the charges withdrawn.
Not all our clients benefit from such results. See notice.
