lawyer for former city councillor joe magliocca abandons challenge to crown witnesses testifying remotely
court expected to hear from two dozen witnesses from other municipalities named in expense claims
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former calgary city councillor joe magliocca walks with family members toward the calgary courts centre for his trial on sept. 9, 2024.
gavin young/postmedia
more than two dozen witnesses against former calgary city council member joe magliocca will be permitted to testify remotely via video links from across the country and beyond.
defence counsel aryan sadat, after reviewing an affidavit from an rcmp officer and statements from the prospective witnesses, told justice gord wong on friday he was no longer opposing crown prosecutor aaron rankin’s application to have most of his case presented via remote testimony.
on monday, at the start of magliocca’s calgary court of justice trial, sadat indicated he had instructions from his client to oppose proceeding in such a manner, arguing rankin had not produced evidence supporting his application.
the lawyer asked to adjourn the case to friday to determine his position on the bid and in the interim rankin had lead rcmp investigator david mitchell prepare an affidavit, which included witness statements.
sadat’s initial reaction to that document was to ask justice gord wong to recuse himself from the case, suggesting the statements could influence the judge’s decision in the case.
“it can put you in an improper position,” sadat said, before wong summarily dismissed the recusal application.
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wong said judges routinely hear evidence, or information that is not admissible in a trial, including ruling on the admissibility of confessions by accused persons, before disabusing themselves from anything that is not properly before the court.
“that would be a similar situation here,” he said. “the courts are basically in a position to ignore (such evidence).”
sadat continued to press the issue, saying he was “putting the court on notice” that if the affidavit was entered on the court record he would renew his recusal application.
“it’s already on the record. we’ve dealt with it,” wong said.
magliocca, 59, faces charges of fraud and breach of trust by a public officer over allegations he was reimbursed for expenses at out-of-town functions that weren’t actually incurred.
on monday, rankin told court he will call more than two dozen witnesses from other municipalities who attended such events and were later named in magliocca’s expense claims as having been bought drinks or dinners by him.
the prosecutor said he anticipates they will say they either never met magliocca, or only met him briefly to exchange business cards and were not treated by the former ward 2 councillor.
“these people attended municipal government conferences not located in calgary,” he explained.
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rankin said the witnesses were interviewed by police and asked regarding a specific date and time, “were you the guest of mr. magliocca?”
“they will give evidence on that point. the expectation is the answer will be ‘no.'”
the named officials include halifax mayor mike savage, former edmonton mayor don iveson, ontario liberal leader bonnie crombie, quebec provincial cabinet minister jonatan julien and stephen wright, a former peterborough council member now living in australia.
magliocca’s trial is set to run until sept. 26.
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