A young Montrealer pinched with a firearm in his vehicle escaped without consequence due to flaws in the justice system. It took a year to get the DNA tests on the weapon, allowing Corvens Joachin Gabriel to benefit from a stay of the legal process under the Jordan decision.
The 21-year-old man was intercepted by officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) for speeding on June 2, 2021. He was alone on board. A police officer then saw the butt of a firearm sticking out of a bag in the back of the vehicle.
It was an old model revolver. There were five ammunition in the cylinder, but these were not of the same caliber as the weapon. The handbag in which the revolver was concealed contained a bank card denominated in a name other than that of the accused.
Corvens Joachin Gabriel faced four counts, including possession of a loaded restricted firearm without a licence. He had been released on conditions with a recognizance of several thousand dollars a few days after his appearance.
However, his trial will never take place, since Judge Sonia Mastro Matteo pronounced a halt to the judicial process for unreasonable delays on February 10. The delays for his trial had reached 20 months, while the Supreme Court set the maximum delay at 18 months in the Jordan judgment, except in exceptional circumstances.
Long wait
For a year, the defense demanded to obtain the results of DNA samples from the firearm before setting a trial date. The defense wanted to know if the DNA of the young man was on the revolver. Most of the Jordan delays are based on this expectation.
The Forensic Science Lab took forever to produce the results. Surprisingly, the police waited three and a half months after the seizure of the weapon to send their sample request. Four months later, a report concluded that a genetic profile was present. But five additional months were needed to make the comparison with the accused’s genetic profile. Finally, the accused’s DNA was not on the weapon.
The public prosecutor gave no explanation to justify these delays, thus leaving the judge’s many questions unanswered.
“At first glance, in the absence of an explanation as to the delay or the complexity in obtaining the analyses, a single observation stands out: the State does not demonstrate the eagerness required by the change in culture which obliges all parties to be proactive and ensure that past practices no longer occur,” concluded Judge Sonia Mastro Matteo.
The magistrate recalls that the public prosecutor is required to fulfill “quickly” (underlined in the judgment) its obligations to communicate evidence, a quasi-constitutional right. The judge thus recalls that the Jordan judgment was aimed precisely at eradicating this “culture of complacency”.
Crown arguments
The Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Khalid Alguima, argued that the accused was responsible for the delays because of his “repeated refusal” to set a trial date. According to the prosecution, it was not necessary to have the results of the DNA evidence to fix the trial, since the accused would have received them in time to make a second opinion.
Moreover, possession of the weapon could be demonstrated even without DNA evidence, since the revolver was in the vehicle driven by the accused, argued the prosecution.
Judge Mastro Matteo disagreed. This evidence was not of “second importance” in this case and could have a “considerable” impact. Knowing if his DNA was on the firearm could lead the accused to change his strategy, analyzes the judge. Thus, the defense requests for surrender had a “legitimate objective”, she said. The trial was also fixed as soon as the results were obtained.
Me Anthony El-Haddad and M.e Lory Zakarian defended Corvens Joachin Gabriel.