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Day Two of the Mike Duffy trial brought more calm and less chaos – at least among the scribes covering the event. Here’s some of what the Gargoyle saw:
Gutter language
Deputy Crown prosecutor Mark Holmes has a sense of humour.
Day Two of Duffy’s fraud trial started with retired Senate law clerk Mark Audcent explaining what sort of information is given to new senators. He also reviewed the factors that determine where a senator actually resides.
Because Audcent’s job included giving senators legal advice for Senate business, he was required to respect solicitor-client privilege. He could only speak in generalities to the court, not about specific discussions between himself and any senator, including Duffy.
Audcent said there are a number of “indicators” used to determine a senator’s main residence. These can include the number of days a senator spends in his or her home province, and where the senator pays taxes, votes or receives government services such as health care.
“And then the final one is what you would call societal relations,” Audcent explained. “Where you do business, where you bank, where you go to church. Where your bowling league is, where your singing club is – all of those social connections that add up to a package saying this person’s resident.”
At which point Holmes asked, jokingly: “Is bowling a big pursuit amongst members of the Senate?
“If you’re uncomfortable answering that because of the privileged nature of your relationship …” he added.
The crack brought laughs in the courtroom. Perhaps sensing that he had as much chance of topping that as of shooting a split, Audcent only smiled.
Spellcheck, anyone?
Duffy might be in a windowless courtroom, but that doesn’t mean he’s disconnected from the world.
The suspended senator was seen sitting with a MacBook computer inside the courtroom Wednesday as everyone waited for Judge Charles Vaillancourt to return from a break. He was apparently composing a reply to an email. At one point, he called over his lawyer, Donald Bayne, to read it.
One has to assume Bayne was checking more than just Duffy’s spelling.
Pressure off the press
Day Two of the trial brought a noticeably calmer tone to the proceedings.
Cameras only caught a quick glance of Duffy: He fooled the press by approaching the building from a different side than he had on Day One, avoiding another large, moving media swarm.
Inside the courthouse, a routine seemed to be forming: Reporters shuffled through the metal detector in front of courtroom 33, while others gathered in the overflow room, some claiming the premium seats near that room’s few electrical outlets. A handful of non-journalists showed up.
The overflow room held fewer people than on Day One, and some reporters mentioned they might not come back Thursday.
Other media organizations, on the other hand, are in for the long haul. Aside from the Citizen, television organizations such as CBC, CTV and Global have broadcast infrastructure set up on a riser near the main door to the courthouse. That area is beginning to look like a campground: tents for the equipment, folding chairs, umbrellas.
Double Duffy
As proceedings ramped up in the afternoon, a trio of Ottawa police officers outside room 33 joked with a court official, telling him that he “just needs glasses.” Glasses – perhaps thick-rimmed and black – are the one thing that would make the court official into the spitting-image of Duffy.
Both wear dark suit jackets. Both boast bald heads. Both are the same height.
The official declined to be interviewed, but has been heard telling others in the courthouse his tale: The resemblance is such between the suspended senator and him that on Tuesday, some camera crews chased him momentarily near the entrance to the building, until they realized he wasn’t Duffy.
– With files from Emma Loop and Lee Berthiaume, Ottawa Citizen
查看原文...
Gutter language
Deputy Crown prosecutor Mark Holmes has a sense of humour.
Day Two of Duffy’s fraud trial started with retired Senate law clerk Mark Audcent explaining what sort of information is given to new senators. He also reviewed the factors that determine where a senator actually resides.
Because Audcent’s job included giving senators legal advice for Senate business, he was required to respect solicitor-client privilege. He could only speak in generalities to the court, not about specific discussions between himself and any senator, including Duffy.
Audcent said there are a number of “indicators” used to determine a senator’s main residence. These can include the number of days a senator spends in his or her home province, and where the senator pays taxes, votes or receives government services such as health care.
“And then the final one is what you would call societal relations,” Audcent explained. “Where you do business, where you bank, where you go to church. Where your bowling league is, where your singing club is – all of those social connections that add up to a package saying this person’s resident.”
At which point Holmes asked, jokingly: “Is bowling a big pursuit amongst members of the Senate?
“If you’re uncomfortable answering that because of the privileged nature of your relationship …” he added.
The crack brought laughs in the courtroom. Perhaps sensing that he had as much chance of topping that as of shooting a split, Audcent only smiled.
Spellcheck, anyone?
Duffy might be in a windowless courtroom, but that doesn’t mean he’s disconnected from the world.
The suspended senator was seen sitting with a MacBook computer inside the courtroom Wednesday as everyone waited for Judge Charles Vaillancourt to return from a break. He was apparently composing a reply to an email. At one point, he called over his lawyer, Donald Bayne, to read it.
One has to assume Bayne was checking more than just Duffy’s spelling.
Pressure off the press
Day Two of the trial brought a noticeably calmer tone to the proceedings.
Cameras only caught a quick glance of Duffy: He fooled the press by approaching the building from a different side than he had on Day One, avoiding another large, moving media swarm.
Inside the courthouse, a routine seemed to be forming: Reporters shuffled through the metal detector in front of courtroom 33, while others gathered in the overflow room, some claiming the premium seats near that room’s few electrical outlets. A handful of non-journalists showed up.
The overflow room held fewer people than on Day One, and some reporters mentioned they might not come back Thursday.
Other media organizations, on the other hand, are in for the long haul. Aside from the Citizen, television organizations such as CBC, CTV and Global have broadcast infrastructure set up on a riser near the main door to the courthouse. That area is beginning to look like a campground: tents for the equipment, folding chairs, umbrellas.
Double Duffy
As proceedings ramped up in the afternoon, a trio of Ottawa police officers outside room 33 joked with a court official, telling him that he “just needs glasses.” Glasses – perhaps thick-rimmed and black – are the one thing that would make the court official into the spitting-image of Duffy.
Both wear dark suit jackets. Both boast bald heads. Both are the same height.
The official declined to be interviewed, but has been heard telling others in the courthouse his tale: The resemblance is such between the suspended senator and him that on Tuesday, some camera crews chased him momentarily near the entrance to the building, until they realized he wasn’t Duffy.
– With files from Emma Loop and Lee Berthiaume, Ottawa Citizen
查看原文...
