A Cornwall justice of the peace’s decision to adjourn bail court early — causing a defendant to spend a night in custody where he was found with a shirt tied around his neck — is now at the centre of discipline proceedings against the jurist.

Claire Winchester, who was appointed to the bench by the Ontario government in 2011, faces allegations of judicial misconduct for that June 2018 incident, as well as for not remaining in court in May 2018 when a member of the public had arrived to have his bail conditions varied.

The discipline hearing began this week in Toronto before a three-member panel of the Justices of the Peace Review Council, the independent body that investigates and disciplines JPs. The misconduct allegations have not been proven.

The incident involving the defendant who spent a night in police custody was initially reported as a suicide attempt, but it “never resulted in any real risk of physical harm; that is, (his) life and health were never truly in danger,” according to an agreed statement of fact filed at the discipline hearing.

Winchester realizes she should not have adjourned, according to a response she sent to the review council’s complaints committee in September 2018 that was filed as an exhibit at the discipline hearing.

“I showed a true lack of judgment for adjourning court prematurely,” Winchester wrote. “What I failed so badly to consider at that moment was that there was a human being in custody waiting to hear about his fate that day and my bail court had to address this matter. I understand completely that my obligation was to deal with this matter and not to adjourn court.”

The case had come before her on a June afternoon, when the Crown attorney said the man was “releasable” but they were working out the conditions of the release, according to a transcript filed at the discipline hearing. The man, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, had no prior criminal record.

Winchester took issue with the fact that there was no “Information” before the court, that is, the document laying out the charges against the individual. A case typically can’t proceed without one and nobody in court seemed to know where the document was, if it even existed, according to the transcript. Winchester adjourned for the day.

When the duty counsel, the legal aid-funded lawyer who assists unrepresented accused people in court, pointed out, “But we have someone in custody who is going to be spending the night,” Winchester replied: “Yes, I know that. Yes, and that happens, especially that the time is well exceeded. We don’t even have anything yet to be able to proceed with,” according to the transcript.

That afternoon, a police officer found the man in his cell, sitting on the floor with one end of his T-shirt loosely tied around his neck and the other end tied to the lower part of a cell bar, according to the agreed statement of fact. He was fully conscious and uninjured and co-operative when the officer removed the shirt. As a precaution, he was taken to hospital, appearing in court via phone the next day and saying he was doing fine, the discipline hearing heard.

Winchester had mistakenly believed that a protocol outlining when police should have prisoners at the courthouse for their bail hearings meant she had to adjourn when there was no Information before the court, her lawyers have said at the hearing.

“It is not an abdication or abandonment of duty,” one of her lawyers, Donald Bayne, said in his opening statement.

Prior to her appointment to the bench in 2011, Winchester worked for many years as a teacher and vice-principal for the Upper Canada District School Board.

She said in her September 2018 response that she realizes she should have instead taken a recess and instructed the Crown to gather all necessary information. She wrote of being “horrified” and “ashamed” of her decision and its impact on the defendant.

Regional Senior Justice of the Peace Linda Leblanc testified at the discipline hearing that Winchester had suggested to her they limit the days of operation of criminal intake court — where JPs sign off on search warrants and Informations, among other duties — after she spent a day in intake court and it wasn’t busy. Leblanc testified that she told Winchester that JPs are there to serve the public and they must respect the intake hours.

On another occasion, Leblanc said she felt Winchester was suggesting she could leave early on a Friday afternoon as she had completed her assigned work. Leblanc said she told Winchester she had to respect the hours, but testified she saw Winchester leave the building shortly thereafter. (In her written response, Winchester said she had asked Leblanc if she could leave and it was her interpretation of the conversation that “she left my decision open.”)

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Justices of the peace are appointed by the provincial government and earn approximately $132,000 a year. Clad in black robes and green sashes, they preside over bail hearings and cases dealing with non-criminal matters known as provincial offences, as well as sign off on search warrants.

Winchester is expected to testify in her defence when the discipline hearing resumes in December.