The province’s top court has ordered a new trial for two men sentenced to life in prison for plotting terrorist acts including, for one, planning to derail a Via Rail train, because of the way the jury that heard their trial was picked.The case is one of several, including that of Eaton Centre shooter Christopher Husbands, that have been appealed due to a judge’s decision to order a specific method of jury selection against the explicit wishes of the defendant. After a six-week trial in 2015 and 10 days of deliberations by the jury, both Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for the benefit of a terrorist group and of two counts of participating in terrorist activity. Esseghaier was also convicted of conspiracy to derail a Via train; Jaser was not. Both men appealed on other grounds besides jury selection, including whether Esseghaier’s deteriorating mental health impacted the trial. Esseghaier refused to participate in the trial and did not have his own lawyer. Having now been treated for schizophrenia, Esseghaier argues he was unfit during the trial and sentencing.Those arguments were postponed until the jury selection issue was decided and will no longer be heard as a result of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision to order a new trial, said Esseghaier’s lawyer Erin Dann, adding that she is pleased with the result of the appeal. On Tuesday, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada said in a statement it would be proceeding with the prosecution, noting it has 60 days to decide whether to seek leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.The Supreme Court declined to hear a Crown appeal after a new trial was ordered in the case of Husbands, the Eaton Centre shooter. The problem with the way the jury was selected stems from a part of the process known as the “challenge for cause,” in which lawyers were permitted to ask potential jurors about whether their decisions ...
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