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grinding The No one and everyone is to blame for chaos and backlogs that are now endemic in the criminal justice system. BY GL ENN KAUTH of justice I wheels t was a high-profile terrorism case that took four years to conclude from arrest to judgment, but the trial of Mohammad Momin Khawaja could have gone on even longer. Proceedings against the Ottawa man had already been delayed in 2007 after the defence fought for more dis- closure of the evidence against him. Then, as the trial ap- proached, lawyer Lawrence Greenspon noticed the Crown had lined up 15 police officers to testify about what they found in his house during the investigation. The prospect of listening to the evidence sounded like a waste of time. "I looked at it and I said you don't need to call 15 officers to introduce what was found in Khawaja's house," Greenspon says. "Call one officer, get all the information he needs as far as where everything was, where it was found, and what it is. Call one ident officer, and we'll save 15 police officers." The idea, he adds, carried little risk and would likely benefit his client, who was convicted in October 2008 of making a bomb detonator but exonerated of allegations he knew of its planned role in attacking British targets. "I made the admis- sion because I knew the Crown I was dealing with is a good and experienced Crown and wouldn't take advantage of it," Greenspon says. But the move is one he believes a less-expe- rienced lawyer might have been leery about making. "There is a fear on the part of younger counsel, and rightfully so," he says. "They don't want to make admissions. They don't want to take any shortcuts because they're not sure what the impli- cations are going to be. So the easiest way to do it is to say, 'I'm not admitting anything. I'm going to fight it.'" The case highlights both sides of an issue that is crushing the country's court systems under the weight of procedural 26 FEBRU AR Y 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com