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'it's not like tv' — canadian courtroom jury duty can exact a heavy toll
the emotional climax of a 10-week trial into a shocking...
jan 3 2024
5 minute read
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the emotional climax of a 10-week trial into a shocking downtown windsor killing came when 12 jurors filed back into the courtroom on their third day of closed-door deliberations.
asked by the judge whether they’d reached a verdict in the first-degree murder case, the person the jurors had selected as their foreperson stood and said in a quiet voice:
“guilty.”
it meant that 12 local men and women agreed with the prosecution that kahli johnson-phillips was the 22-year-old gunman outside the pizza pizza in the aug. 27, 2018, planned execution-style slaying of university of windsor student jason pantlitz-solomon, 20.
at the defence’s prompting, superior court justice pamela hebner then asked each juror to stand and state whether they agreed with the first-degree murder verdict that came with an automatic life sentence. a jury’s conclusion must be unanimous.
each one stood and separately affirmed the decision. but as they did — their eyes averted from the now-convicted killer sitting a short distance away — most broke down in tears.
“it’s more common than not — i don’t see that as unusual at all,” brian manarin, a retired longtime assistant crown attorney, said of the trial’s tearful conclusion.
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“it’s not like watching on television. you’re in a heightened emotional state — you know you’re holding a person’s fate in your hands,” he said.
manarin estimates he handled more than 20 murder cases over his 30 years as a prosecuting attorney. he continues to teach at the university of windsor law school, including a course on how canada’s jury system works.
unlike the judges, prosecutors, defence attorneys, police officers and court staff whose professions are built around justice system drama, for most citizens figuratively plucked off the street to serve as jurors, being plonked down in a courtroom and experiencing a real blood-and-guts murder trial can be jarring.
“we’ve talked to jurors — it can be the most stressful life experience they’ve ever had,” said mark farrant, founder and ceo of the canadian juries commission.
a typical courtroom jury box is shown at the superior court of justice building in downtown windsor.
nick brancaccio
/
windsor star
it’s one thing to sit back with a bag of popcorn and enjoy a hollywood slasher movie, quite another to delve, in sometimes excruciating and bloody detail, into a horrific crime committed in your own community, at a location you might know and where you, your family and friends might even frequent.
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in the johnson-phillips trial, jurors were repeatedly shown video surveillance footage and heard the loud pop-pop-pops of the bullets fired into the victim, including eight to 11 gunshots while he lay defenceless on the sidewalk at the corner of ouellette and university avenues. a key crown witness, a young mother, gave gut-wrenching testimony of a cruel life in which she was traded like merchandise among street gang pimps, her body sold by the hour to strangers in ontario cities.
regular folks called in for jury duty “are not prepared for the emotional impact,” said farrant, adding it can mean being exposed to the very worst of humanity. “for some, it can be life-changing.”
after a four-month stint as a juror at a “horrific, tragic and sad” toronto murder trial in 2014, farrant said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd). but he was largely on his own: “i learned mental health supports were not available to me at the time.”
supporting jurors: mark farrant, ceo and founder of the canadian juries commission, is shown in a recent photo in toronto.
contributed photo
/
windsor star
farrant began reaching out and advocating for post-trial support for jurors in canada. in 2019, ontario adopted a jurors’ support program, one that is being emulated elsewhere, including most recently in b.c. one of the changes, said farrant, has been to “remove the judge as the gatekeeper” in determining whether a juror can access free counselling services.
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juries are required for any number of cases in the justice system, including civil lawsuits, coroner’s inquests, accident and workplace injury investigations and malpractice cases, but it’s lengthy murder trials that can be the most taxing.
windsor saw its share of such jury trials in 2023, including out-of-town drug dealers convicted of executing a young windsor woman with a bullet to the back of the head, and the case of a young london man, consumed with hate, convicted of mowing down a muslim family in that city with his truck.
“they might have seen something like this on tv, but that’s fiction — there’s a comfort in knowing that’s not part of my world,” said antonio pascual-leone, a clinical psychologist at the university of windsor.
“but this can be a hard reality check — you’ve got a front-row seat to a reality you don’t normally get invited into,” pascual-leone said of the jury’s world. “and you’re alone.”
jury duty ‘can be a hard reality check.’ clinical psychologist antonio pascual-leone is shown at the university of windsor on dec. 7, 2023.
dan janisse
/
windsor star
it’s a crime punishable by prison for a canadian juror to divulge publicly what goes on behind the closed doors of the jury room, and that includes friends and even family.
while “our community is not a terrible place, and our world is not a terrible place,” pascual-leone — an internationally recognized expert on trauma — said jury duty can be a “loss of innocence” and triggering to those previously exposed to trauma.
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unlike on tv or in the movies, the gory scenes are not staged for amusement, they’re evidence of the most vile acts of violence committed in our very own communities and involving actual victims, not paid actors.
at a murder trial, the judge presides over the proceedings and applies the law, but the jurors are the judges of the facts. with zero legal training, they hear the evidence and they must determine whether the prosecution has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
‘it’s not like television.’ then-assistant crown attorney brian manarin speaks with the media outside superior court in windsor on june 9, 2009.
tyler brownbridge
/
windsor star
“it’s an important part of civic responsibility, and jury duty can be a very rewarding experience — i am still very proud of my service,” said farrant of the canadian juries commission.
his organization’s board is made up of former jurors, psychologists, academics and members of the legal community. farrant said its treasurer and chief operating officer was juror #1 in the trial of notorious serial killer paul bernardo.
a recent victory came in the form of senate bill s-206, which amended the criminal code. as of january 2023, canadian jurors are now legally permitted to speak about closed-door jury proceedings, but only with licensed health care professionals. one of the new legislation’s supporters was ontario sen. lucie moncion, who developed ptsd after serving as a juror on a 1989 first-degree murder trial.
the canadian juries commission trains and certifies former jurors to become peer support leaders.
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something it’s still pushing for is better remuneration for jurors so that a “jury of your peers” — the essence of citizen juries in canada and elsewhere — can be selected from a broader pool of citizens, not just from among those who can afford to be away from family, work or business for sometimes extended periods. one windsor murder trial in 2023 lasted 17 weeks — a third of a year.
the superior court of justice building, left, and the ontario court of justice in downtown windsor are shown on dec. 13, 2023.
dan janisse
/
windsor star
if you participated in the justice system as a juror and you need help, there’s a free service in ontario at 1-844-587-6766.
after rendering their verdict in the johnson-phillips trial in windsor on nov. 25, justice hebner asked the jurors to meet with her in private. farrant said he hopes the judge was able to point anyone in need of help to places where they can find it.
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