Complaint against lawyer dismissed
Ruling says Peter Harte acted properly when asking teen to leave school to testify last year
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A complaint about the conduct of a prominent Yellowknife lawyer has been dismissed.
Andrew Fox, an adjudicator with the NWT Law Society, ruled Monday that defence lawyer Peter Harte did nothing wrong when he asked a 15-year-old youth to leave school last year to testify in defence of the teen's father.
The father was on trial for a serious criminal charge in June 2015.
The mother, estranged from the father, was not told her son would be called to testify. She had custody of the teen.
Yellowknifer is withholding some details of the case because of the nature of the court case.
The complaint was heard by Fox on Sept. 29 with a lawyer for the law society arguing Harte's actions did not favourably reflect the legal profession.
Fox ruled, however, that Harte had taken appropriate steps to defend his client.
"Members of the public apprised of these circumstances would understand that Mr. Harte asked (the 15-year-old) to come to court to tell the truth but only if he wanted to," Fox wrote, adding the teen was old enough to understand the importance of telling the truth in the situation. The teen was allowed to leave school in the presence of the school's principal.
"While I can keenly appreciate that (the mother), indeed any parent, would wish to have prior notice of her son's intention to testify, I do not think that the absence of such notice in these circumstances deserves sanction against Mr. Harte," Fox wrote.
Harte faced a fine of up to $2,000 had the adjudicator determined he deserved reprimand.
"I think it was the right decision and I'm pleased that the adjudicator agreed with the position we put forward," Harte said in a brief interview Monday.
