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| Patrick Ducharme |
Private prosecutions are governed by a pre-charge stage in which a provincial court Judge or designated Justice of the peace decide whether prosecution is merited. In contrast to public prosecutions, initiated pursuant to section 507 of the Code, where the allegations are heard ex-parte and in camera, private prosecutions require a judicial officer to conduct a “hearing” to determine whether a case for issuing a summons or warrant for the arrest of the accused is warranted after the judicial officer has heard and considered the allegations of the informant and the evidence of witnesses.1 The Attorney General may appear at the hearing without being deemed to intervene in the proceedings.2 If the Judge or Justice does not issue a summons or warrant, the information is endorsed, and, unless the informant, not later than six months after the endorsement, commences proceedings to compel the Judge or Justice to issue a summons or warrant the information is deemed never to have been laid.
Subsection 606 (4) permits pleas of guilty to other offences, even offences that are not included offences.
606(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where an accused or defendant pleads not guilty of the offence charged but guilty of any other offence arising out of the same transaction, whether or not it is an included offence, the court may, with the consent of the prosecutor, accept that plea of guilty and, if the plea is accepted, the court shall find the accused or defendant not guilty of the offence charged and find him guilty of the offence in respect of which the plea of guilty was accepted and enter those findings in the record of the court.
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme's book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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