Crown Prosecutor
The role of the Crown prosecutor is to:
- conduct prosecutions on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Province of Saskatchewan; and
- present evidence to a court that is considered credible and relevant to the alleged offence.
When engaged as a prosecutor, the lawyer’s primary duty is to see that justice is done through a fair trial on the merits.
See section 5.1-3 of the Law Society of Saskatchewan Code of Professional Conduct for Lawyers for more information.
Crown prosecutors exercise ‘prosecutorial discretion’. This includes the discretion to make decisions, including but not limited to whether or not to:
- prosecute a matter
- stay or withdraw a charge
- accept a guilty plea or a lesser charge
- appeal a court’s decision
Generally, the Law Society will not review the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The Law Society may review if it is alleged that the discretion was exercised in bad faith. See the common questions below for examples of bad faith. Otherwise, Crown prosecutors are held to the same standard as any other lawyer appearing before the court.
What best describes your concern?
Common Questions
Bad faith on the part of a Crown prosecutor can include any of the following:
- Concealing information in violation of the law
- Ignoring or hiding relevant cases and authorities that may contradict the Crown’s position
- Deliberately misleading the court
- Engaging in discrimination on a prohibited basis
- Delaying decisions on files, especially when they affect:
- the accused’s incarceration;
- public safety; or
- public confidence.
- Actively engaging in “judge shopping”
Judge shopping is a practice of trying to replace a judge that has been assigned to your file with another one in the hopes that the new judge will be more favourable for your case.
You can set out your specific concerns in writing to the Director of Prosecutions at the Ministry of Justice for Saskatchewan. The mailing address is:
300, 1874 Scarth Street
Regina, SK S4P 4B3