Do Not Agree With Crown Decision
A witness may be upset with a decision made by the Crown prosecutor, such as a decision to:
- proceed with charges when the witness is unwilling
- not proceed with a charge
- stay charges
- accept a plea to a lesser charge
In particular, a witness may feel they were not sufficiently consulted before the decision was made.
However, 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 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.
If you believe a Crown prosecutor has not appropriately exercised their discretion or followed proper procedure, submit a complaint.
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