RETRIAL IN THE HOWLETT CASE

Today's Waterloo Region Record advises us that there will be a retrial of the accused Michael Ball. The title of the story is "Crown will attempt murder trial again". I find this somewhat bizarre. Clearly there were two adamant positions on the jury when they stated that they could not come to a unanimous decision. Some jury members must have been in favour of conviction and others not. In my mind a retrial is simply the Crown getting a different jury to come to a different decision based upon the very same evidence. Personally on a balance of probabilities I might conclude the young man is guilty. The problem for the Crown is the criteria is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and how can you not have reasonable doubt when there is no proof that Erin Howlett was murdered in the first place? Pathologists simply are unable to conclude whether she died of a drug overdose, strangulation or other causes. Obtaining a different jury simply with a different mindset regarding reasonable doubt does not seem like justice to me. Better several guilty persons go free than one innocent person is wrongly convicted. This is the presumption of innocence until proven beyond a reasonable doubt.