Case dropped with witness also the case management court clerk

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/03/2025 (377 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A trial went on for two hours with three witnesses before it ended on a clerical error. That error was that the clerk was the Crown’s first witness.

Judge Kael McKenzie noticed the initials on the paperwork for two of the three confidential case management conferences, meetings between the defence and Crown prosecution with a judge before the trial to discuss the case, matched the initials of the Steinbach court clerk, justice of the peace, and March 7 trial Crown witness Jazmine Balness.

Crown attorney Jonathan Mays immediately stayed the charges against Albert Blatch when the judge pointed out the conflict. The case management conferences were with a different judge, Robert Heinrichs.

Blatch, who has been in court on charges related to behaviour with legal staff before, let out a loud laugh and told the Crown he’d be suing as he left the courthouse. He was on trial for resisting arrest, mischief, and causing a disturbance not in a dwelling house.

That disturbance had been alleged to take place in the Steinbach courtroom Dec. 5, 2023.

Blatch had been accused of video recording against court policy. The Crown alleged that when told by Balness to stop, he refused and demanded to see the justice of the peace for that day.

Balness testified she called RCMP out of an abundance of caution, as they were still waiting for court sheriffs to arrive for Balness’s trial on that day in 2023.

Two RCMP officers testified before the clerical conflict was pointed out. The first witnessed the arrest and said Blatch continued trying to record video on his phone as other officers arrested him in the courtroom. During the arrest, Blatch said they broke his arm. He said he has a lawsuit against the police in progress.

A second officer testified that he tried to provide medical assistance at the RCMP detachment after Blatch was detained in a cell and later said he needed help. The officer said Blatch refused to let the officer touch him and an ambulance was called to bring Blatch to hospital. The officer did not believe there was any serious arm injury, Blatch insists he has proof there was.

All this testimony was periodically stalled with Blatch insisting he needed to get the video he took in the courtroom that day from his laptop at home in Richer. He said he knew someone who could get it for him.

It was after the witnesses were done testifying and the judge was contemplating giving Blatch a recess to get the video — Blatch erroneously thought the Crown would bring a recording of the video taken on the attorney’s phone to court for him — that the initials of the clerk were spotted and the case dropped.

“This is what the record shows, and I don’t have any recollection of it. But out of an abundance of caution I am still going to do what I’m going to do and direct a stay of proceedings,” said Crown attorney Mays.

“Even from an optics perspective it just looks terrible, whether or not we can confirm it or not,” added Mays in court.