Stay out of Jail Free Pass....

What is it? Rub a few shoulders with the legal community - be an upstanding citizen and/or if it's a "one shot event" - you can get a "stay out of jail pass" for fraud? If I ask this question am I in contempt?

Convicted of 1 count of fraud over $5000.....house arrest for 1 year.....
Is this a foreshadowing of things to come?

As the Telegram story points out:

Donald Mercer and Byron Button, the chairman and president, respectively, of the now-defunct St. John's trust company, were originally charged with 21 counts of fraud after $3.5 million went missing when Caribou went into receivership in 1995.

This after an acquittal as noted in this CBC story in 2003:

A long, drawn-out case against two former directors of a local investment and loan company has ended.

Donald Mercer and Byron Button were charged with fraud. Their company, Caribou Investments, closed down in 1995. .

Both men have been acquitted.

The Crown asked for the acquittals because evidence gathered through four RCMP search warrants was ruled inadmissible.

The judge agreed there wasn't enough evidence to continue the trial

About 150 investors lost close to three million dollars when the company's assets were sold off.

Then as the Telegram Story points out:

That acquittal was overturned and a second trial ordered in March 2005 when the Court of Appeal ruled the trial judge erred in excluding the evidence.

To top it all off once again from the Telegram story by Jamie Baker:

In July, Mercer's lawyer, Averill Baker, filed an application to stay the charges against him and Button, based on the assertion that the defence's case had been impaired by Mercer's medical condition and associated memory loss.

Geez that sounds strangely familiar to other trials - remember?

In either case people suffered - families suffered - and no doubt they are still suffering from the fraud perpetrated on them.

And let me say we sent a strong message to white collar criminals by sentencing these two - to one year house arrest - which Mercer can serve in Nova Scotia - that's where he went off to - when things went sour. Mercer I have heard proclaim innocence before - and I would like to know what he has to say now.

Button for his part according to the Telegram said:

"Any sentence that the court will impose, it will be in addition to what Mr. Mercer as well as myself have been through in the last 14 years," Button said prior to sentencing. "There has been a loss of income, loss of career, total devastation to my family, even though I have all the support from them that anyone could expect."

I would like to remind Mr. Button and Mr. Mercer that they are responsible for their misery - what the court had to deal with was the misery suffered by people who were not responsible for the situation. In other words the "victims".

What really got me was the Judge's comments during sentencing - from the Telegram Story:

"I don't believe a prison term in relation to this matter is appropriate for either of the accused," Justice Robert Hall said Wednesday, referring to the charge against Mercer and Button as being a "one shot event."

Does that mean ENRON was a one shot event? Or Conrad Black hauling evidence from his office - a one shot event?

Hardly surprising considering the Police and the Crown had them under the scope after the charges were laid originally. They got caught!

and then again from the story:

Hall said the trial was also personally difficult for him, given that he knew both the accused well and had "rubbed shoulders" with them as part of the province's legal community.

"I take no joy at all from this trial whatsoever, or the conclusion I had to come to, or the sentence I had to impose," Hall said, before pointing out he was "scrupulous" in making sure the fact he knew the two men did not "interfere with my judgments in this matter."

Okay now is it just me - or do two of those paragraphs contradict each other. Would the Judge be so tormented if some mother was passing bad cheques to feed the kids ( a one shot event) - or some kid addicted to drugs prescribed by a pill pushing doctor robbed a store to feed his/her habit (a one shot event)? Would he be so tormented over a blue collar stiff defrauding EI (a one shot event)? Or a small business person failing to report all revenues (a one shot event)?

This is a joke and a very bad one on the people who were screwed by the actions of these two men.

So here I go - annoying the establishment again. That should bring it's usual rewards of personal condemnation and back-room whispers.

What I should have said was - what a sin - these two men dragged through investigations and trials for over a decade - it's time we let it go - give them some peace. They have already suffered enough - and the poor man is sick.

Where's the money? Where's the money? Where's the money?

The other thing I'm wondering about is this:

The MHA's that have been charged with various offenses in the House of Assembly spending scandal which include 1 count of fraud over $5000 - should they be found guilty should they expect the same sentence? After all these guys must have "rubbed shoulders" with the legal community while holding office - all of them can claim the same as Button loss of reputation - income etc. I can see it now - 1 year of "House" arrest. Would this also be a one shot event? I wonder if ankle bracelets can be included in constituency allowance spending - they are interesting trinkets and much more substantial than rings.