Bail Denied to 16-Year-Old Under Rarely Applied Canadian Provision
A Canadian judge has denied bail to a 16-year-old girl accused of inciting her boyfriend to murder a 14-year-old rival under a rarely applied rule intended to preserve public confidence in the administration of justice.
The unnamed teen will not be released prior to trial even though she could be expected to appear at trial and would not be a danger to the community, the judge found, because of the heinous nature of the first-degree murder with which she is charged, reports the Globe and Mail.
“The apparent strength of the prosecutor’s case, as well as the gravity of the offense, the circumstances surrounding its commission and the potential for a lengthy term of imprisonment are factors that must be present for a judge to deny bail on public confidence grounds,” the newspaper reports.
It has not yet been determined whether the girl, if convicted, will be sentenced as a juvenile or as an adult. As an adult, she would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without eligibility for parole for 10 years. For a juvenile, the maximum prison sentence would be six years.
