• Black Nova Scotia
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health
    • COVID
  • Investigation
  • Journalism
  • Labour
  • Policing
  • Politics
    • City Hall
    • Elections
    • Province House
  • Profiles
  • Transportation
  • Women
  • Morning File
  • Commentary
  • PRICED OUT
  • @Tim_Bousquet
  • Log In

Halifax Examiner

An independent, adversarial news site in Halifax, NS

  • Home
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Commenting policy
  • Archives
  • Contact us
  • Subscribe
    • Gift Subscriptions
  • Donate
  • Swag
  • Receipts
  • Manage your account: update card / change level / cancel
You are here: Home / Featured / Nova Scotia Crowns push ahead with 2023 jury trial for Randy Riley

Nova Scotia Crowns push ahead with 2023 jury trial for Randy Riley

May 24, 2022 By Zane Woodford Leave a Comment

A concrete building is seen on a grey day. The sign says "The Law Courts, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Nova Scotia." There are three flags — two Nova Scotian and one Canadian, in the centre.

The Law Courts in Halifax in February 2020. Photo: Zane Woodford

The Crown is refusing Randy Riley’s request for a trial by judge alone, pushing ahead with a jury trial in September 2023 — well after the time limit prescribed by the court system.

In 2018, Riley was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2010 killing of Chad Smith. In 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously overturned that conviction, ordering a new trial, as El Jones reported for the Halifax Examiner then:

The appeal focused on the warning given to the jury about the witnesses in the case. Known as a Vetrovec warning, it concerns the special considerations required when considering evidence from an “unsavoury” witness. Nathan Johnson, Riley’s co-accused who was convicted of first degree murder in the same case, offered evidence that exculpated Riley when Johnson confessed to killing Smith on his own.

The Supreme Court agreed with the argument put forward by Riley’s appeal lawyers Lee Seshagiri and Roger Burrill that the trial judge erred in applying the warning to Johnson. They argued:

Vetrovec cautions were never intended to prejudice the defence, and serve no purpose when applied to exculpatory evidence. The fact that a witness is called by the Crown, or is described as a “mixed witness”, does not change these fundamental principles. A Vetrovec caution should not have been given against the exculpatory witness in this case.

It wasn’t just Riley’s co-accused who recanted. After Riley was sentenced, another one of the Crown’s witnesses, Paul Smith, called Riley’s lawyer in 2019 and gave a statement to a private investigator saying he lied in court, as Tim Bousquet reported for the Examiner. Smith, who also received payment from police, later went missing.

But the Crown is pushing on. Riley was released on bail last April, and after two previous sets of trial dates were adjourned, he was in court on Friday to set dates for a new trial.

After he was convicted by an all-white jury, Riley wanted to have his case heard by a judge alone for his second trial. On Friday, the Crown refused that request.

A judge-alone trial could’ve been scheduled for January to February 2023, but due to scheduling issues for the lawyers, the next available time for a jury trial in Halifax is September 2023.

Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, anyone accused of a crime has the right “to be tried within a reasonable time.” With a 2016 case, R. v Jordan, the Supreme Court of Canada created a new rubric for deciding what constitutes a reasonable time. For a trial like Riley’s in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, the timeline is 30 months.

The Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial on November 3, 2019, so a new trial has to conclude by May 3, 2023.

“There’s an option to schedule a trial for Mr. Riley before that time if we proceeded judge-alone,” Riley’s lawyer, Trevor McGuigan, said in court on Friday.

“The Crown, knowing that, is accepting dates that are beyond the Jordan time. Knowing Mr. Riley’s rights are presumptively violated, judge-alone would save that, the Crown is choosing not to consent in those circumstances.”

Crown attorney Peter Craig confirmed that the Crown is not consenting to a judge-alone trial, but said, “I certainly don’t accept the proposition that Mr. Riley’s rights have been violated.”

McGuigan is applying to have the charges stayed based on the Jordan time limit. That hearing could happen later this year.

In the meantime, Riley’s trial is set for September 5 to October 27, 2023 in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax.


Subscribe to the Halifax Examiner


We have many other subscription options available, or drop us a donation. Thanks!

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Chad Smith, Crown attorney Peter Craig, Crown prosecutor Paul Smith, El Jones, Randy Riley, Tim Bousquet, Vetrovec warning, Zane Woodford

About Zane Woodford

Zane Woodford covers municipal politics for the Halifax Examiner. Email: [email protected]; Twitter

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

A blonde woman and a white man with a dark beard, both wearing pajama bottoms and either a red or a pink bra, have a pillow fight on a bed.

Episode 84 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

After a year’s worth of singles and videos, the Halifax duo is finally releasing its first recorded project in the form of FLUTTER, a six-song genre-agnostic EP that’s deeply personal and incredibly catchy. Art Ross and Aaron Green return to the show a year later to dish on their music-industry immersion, why Ross’ sapphic lyrics strike all kinds of chords, and where you can see them this summer.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

Sign up for email notification

Sign up to receive email notification when we publish new Morning Files and Weekend Files. Note: signing up for this email is NOT the same as subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.

Recent posts

  • Atlantic Gold’s parent company hints it may halt its Nova Scotia operation June 25, 2022
  • Weekend File, June 25, 2022 June 25, 2022
  • Bousquet talks to himself June 24, 2022
  • Despite receiving Muskrat Falls power, Nova Scotia is still burning biomass for electricity June 24, 2022
  • Halifax engineers want to widen roads before implementing pedestrian-protecting turn signals June 23, 2022

Commenting policy

All comments on the Halifax Examiner are subject to our commenting policy. You can view our commenting policy here.

Copyright © 2022