Prosecutors can renege plea deals

The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously ruled the country’s Crown prosecutors can renege on plea bargains. The top court’s decision came after an Alberta woman argued a crown’s cancellation of a plea agreement was a violation of her Charter rights. The woman had been charged with impaired driving causing death and injury in a 2006 crash that killed a couple and injured their son. The woman was offered a plea deal that consisted of a $1,800 fine because the Crown believed there wasn’t a reasonable likelihood of conviction. But when news of the plea agreement reached the province’s upper ranks, prosecutors were told to renege on the deal because the assistant deputy minister believed it was “contrary to the interests of justice.” Vancouver Sun