An hour in courtroom 204: Legal minutiae might not warrant headlines but are small pieces of important puzzles

Spend a little time in court and you see all kinds of things: Youth calls her lawyer a 'bitch'; homeless accused is MIA; judge loses patience with absent prosecutors

Many years ago at the Chilliwack Law Courts there were three older men who would often sit at the back of courtrooms watching the proceedings, the coming and goings of lawyers, offenders, sheriffs, clerks, judges, victims, family members of victims and of those charged with crimes. 

One was a neighbour of mine who moved away. Another was a man named Glen who I knew pretty well. The third I didn’t know but he was friendly.

I'm not sure why Glen doesn't come any more. None of them do, and no other journalists seem to exist in the Eastern Fraser Valley who want to or have the time to attend court to see what’s happening. Other than long-time court reporter Vikki Hopes in Abbotsford who has covered the most serious cases in that city for decades for Black Press, no one other than me is paying much attention anymore at all. 

It’s not easy to cover courts. It’s rife with confusing legalese. It can be boring, tedious, slow, exasperating. Because of my court accreditation I'm allowed to use a laptop so I can work on other things if it gets tedious while the poor deputy sheriffs have to stay awake.

But it’s important stuff. Often life-altering for some people on most days.

I like to attend even when I know I’m probably not going to get a story out of it just to look under the hood of criminal justice, peek at the minutiae within a system that deals with some of the most life-altering events in people’s lives.

Here’s a few anecdotes from about 30-or-so minutes in courtroom 204 as I sat there waiting to hear about a specific case.

Her lawyer is 'a bitch'

As I walked into courtroom 204 shortly after 10 a.m. on Monday (April 28) I could hear a female voice increasing in volume, sounding frustrated. She was a youth in detention appearing via video. Judge Peter Whyte said something to her about her getting her to speak with her lawyer who was also appearing via video.  

"I don't want to talk to my lawyer because she's a bitch!"

OK, good start.

Her lawyer politely told the court that if the young woman didn't want to talk to her, someone else at her office would help.

No fixed address = hard to find

Another lawyer spoke to the next matter on the list, a man named Thomas Lea who is charged with possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose. Lea has had a few appearances since Oct. 28, 2024. On Monday he was scheduled to plead guilty.

The problem? His lawyer can’t find him.

The court could issue a warrant for his arrest but that’s not usually done on the first no-show. If that is what's needed, usually the judge will put it forward to another date to give the accused a second chance. On the court list this will be listed the abbreviated court appearance reason APW, application for a warrant. In the case of Lea, his lawyer asked to put it over a week so he could try to find him. If he can't find him, it'll probably be put over again for APW and if he still doesn't show up, a warrant for his arrest will be issued.

Tom, you out there?

Prolific offender wants RCMP to give him his car back

One of only two other people in the courtroom Monday was a man I’ve written about before, a frequent flier who knows his way around the courthouse. 

Lorne Sims once stole out of volunteer firefighters’ vehicles while they were out on a call in the middle of the night. 

 Frustrated victim

The other person in the courtroom gallery Monday was a woman who is the victim in an arson case. 

Darek McDonald is charged with uttering threats, arson damaging property, and indictable break-and-enter from Christmas Day 2022. He’s also facing two breach charges from March 25, 2023. The court addressed the woman who said she hoped that day was going to be the sentencing. She thought it was supposed to be a while ago and seemed frustrated that it kept getting postponed and no one is telling her anything.

Crown explained to the court that the victim had some paperwork to provide them, more information regarding possible restitution. It can be a frustrating and slow system, and victims are often overlooked since the focus of the criminal justice system is on offenders.

McDonald is not in custody on this file and he’s next due in court May 23 to fix a date for the sentencing. 

Prosecutor gets hand slapped

For two weeks in a row, Judge Peter Whyte was clearly peeved about lawyer no-shows. Last week it was a defence lawyer and this week it was federal Crown who did not appear in person or on video to address a case of an accused in custody who himself is appearing via video. 

Jarrod Johnny’s legal counsel and counsel for his co-accused Sean Clendenning appeared via video. The two are facing numerous serious charges for possession for the purpose of trafficking and firearms offences dating back to February 2020. 

The junior lawyers on video seemed surprised when Whyte asked them if their clients wanted to have the matters stayed (charges dropped) for want of prosecution. Both said “no,” which was interesting because I’m pretty sure the accused would love that. Regardless, Whyte put the case over to 2 p.m. where he said he would consider doing just that if Crown didn’t show up.

“I do not understand why, two weeks in a row, the federal Crown has failed to attend. I have made it clear. Let’s hope someone from the Crown joins us [at 2 p.m.].”

I wasn’t there in the afternoon but it looks like someone did show up. Johnny’s case was put over for a bail hearing on May 13 and a pre-trial conference for both men is scheduled for July 14 in advance of lengthy voir dire hearings set to run into 2026. A voir dire is like a trial within a trial to address a certain aspect of the case, sometimes they are held to address a Charter application where the accused wants the case dropped for some perceived violation of his or her rights, things like unreasonable delay (section 11b) or improper searches (section 8).  

And on it goes...

All that in less than an hour. And on it went but no one from the public was there to see the rest of it. 

I think one of those court watchers mentioned above has passed away. For whatever reason, none of them come any more and there are no more court watchers at the Chilliwack Law Courts. It’s a shame. There are so many retired people out there, probably many bored and able-bodied. People should head on down, check it out.

Heck, get in touch and I’ll give a guided tour. 

Almost all courtrooms are totally open to anyone from the public to sit in, have a seat, watch and listen. Just be respectful. Don’t wear a hat or sunglasses. Don’t chew gum. Don’t use your phone, and you are all good. 

-30-

Paul J. Henderson
pauljhenderson@gmail.com
facebook.com/PaulJHendersonJournalist
instagram.com/wordsarehard_pjh
x.com/PeeJayAitch
wordsarehard-pjh.bsky.social