Congeniality Mr.
Even in the thick of some of Canada's most distasteful cases, Vancouver lawyer Richard Peck's class shines through. by Kelly Harris
O
n March 15, 2005, a Van- couver courtroom and indeed much of Canada
was stunned to hear British Co- lumbia Supreme Court Justice Ian Bruce Josephson read his acquit- tal of accused Air India bombers Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri. The culmination of one of the
country's largest mega-trials, into what many describe as its worst mass murder, had ended. The government had failed to prove its case, and by simple reduction, Rich- ard Peck, lead counsel for Bagri, had proven his. It was not the first time his arguments had stunned a province and perhaps the country. Four years earlier, Peck was suc- cessful with the argument to the Supreme Court of Canada that parts of Canada's child pornogra- phy laws were akin to legislating thought, in R. v. Sharpe.
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