Overscheduling cases 'ridiculous,' Happy Valley-Goose Bay judge says - Action News
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Overscheduling cases 'ridiculous,' Happy Valley-Goose Bay judge says

A judge in Happy Valley-Goose Bay expressed his frustration with over scheduling and subsequent case delays, after Reg Bowers had his sentencing set over Friday.

'All I've looked for for my client for two months now is 10 minutes to dispose of a matter'

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Coun. Reg Bowers is now scheduling to be sentenced in December. (Matt McCann/CBC)

A judge in Happy Valley-Goose Bay expressed his frustration with overscheduling and subsequent case delaysafter Reg Bowers had his sentencing set over Friday.

Bowers, formercampaign manager for former Labrador cabinet minister Peter Penashue and Happy Valley-Goose Bay town councillor, was supposed to be sentenced Friday morning.

However, Judge John Joysaid,defence lawyer Jerome Kennedy was not availableand the court was overbooked.

He called the situation "ridiculous," and said he routinely finds himself setting over half the court docket each day.

Joy said the delays are an"epidemic" and it'sbecominga frustrating situationfor him and accused people appearing before the court. As well,it often leads to "unnecessary tension."

However, Kennedy told CBC News he was ready forthe sentencing last month,but was told the judge didn't have enough time.

He said he called the courtOct. 27after realizing he couldn't appear at the scheduled date, and he was later told the matter could be dealt with days later.

"I was quite surprised when I see comments talking about how busy the court is and the court docket when all I've looked for for my client for two months now is 10minutes to dispose of a matter," Kennedy said.

"If a court doesn't have 10minutes to deal with an issue, then the matters are certainly much bigger than this case and appear to be very systemic concerns."

Bowerspleaded guilty to two of three of the charges under the Canada Elections Act in related to Penashue's2011 campaignin October.

Bowers'scase will be called again on Dec. 2.

With files from Bailey White