It was Justice Platana who stayed the charges against Cornwall lawyer and Church Canon Lawyer Jacques.  The charges had been stayed before;  that decision was appealed and Leduc was ordered back to trial.Platana was called in to sit on the bench as an impartial judge with no connections to Cornwall, this after one of the judges at the first trial, Colin McKinnon, had taken the bench despite his serious conflicts of interest.

As you will see below Justice Platana does have Cornwall connections. Furthermore, we have only recently learned that Justice Platana  is also a Deacon in the Roman Catholic:  he was ordained to the diaconate in June 1987 in the Diocese of Thunder Bay, Ontario.  The Bishop of the day was John Aloysius O’Mara.

Justice Platanas wife Madeline is also active in the Thunder Bay Diocese.  She has worked for the diocese in its “Office of Worship” and is also actively involved in Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church where her husband is listed as Deacon.

 Justice Terence Platana’s Cornwall connections 

Justice Terence Platana was brought in from Thunder Bay, Ontario for the second sex abuse trial of Cornwall lawyer and Church canon lawyer Jacques Leduc.

Justice Colin McKinnon, one of the two judges who took the bench at the first trial at which Leduc was awarded a stay, was obliged to recuse himself due to his Cornwall/Claude Shaver/Cornwall Police Service connections. The second, James Chadwick, granted Leduc a stay after the trial degenerated into the trial and lynching of Perry Dunlop.

After the stay was appealed and Leduc was ordered back to trial Justice Platana was brought in from Thunder Bay with the understanding he had no connections to Cornwall and hence there was no potential for conflict of interest and a repeat of the McKinnon fiasco.

See obituary below – Platana’s wife is from Cornwall, and his father-in-law a member of the Knights of Columbus and graduate of the Cornwall Classical College

06 October 2004:  Leduc describes impact of sex abuse charges

29 September 2004:  Perry sworn statement for Justice Platana (in response to Justice Platana’s Order of Production during the “second” and final sexual abuse trial of Jacques Leduc )

29 September 2004:  Perry Dunlop disclosure of documents on order of Justice Terence  Platana (all of these were duplicates of boxes of documents Perry had previously disclosed to police  )

18 August 2004:  Perry Dunlop note to Justice Terence Platana  (hand-written after Perry realized he had been brought to Cornwall to testify at the   second Leduc trial under false pretenses.  Part of letter is unfortunately missing.  I will try to find the original)

Obituary

(Rolland Dupuis Obituary in March 2007 Cornwall Standard Freeholder)

Cornwall child-sex case sunk by delays

Toronto Globe and Mail

By KIRK MAKIN JUSTICE REPORTER

Tuesday, October 19, 2004 – Page A1

The bizarre case of a purported pedophile ring in Cornwall, Ont., came crashing to a halt yesterday when a judge stayed sex charges against the sole remaining defendant, lawyer Jacques Leduc.

Ontario Superior Court Judge Terrence Platana stayed eight charges against Mr. Leduc based on unreasonable trial delays amounting to 6½ years — virtually none of which, he said, was attributable to Mr. Leduc.

Judge Platana told a packed courtroom awaiting his ruling that Mr. Leduc did all he could to propel his case forward and suffered great condemnation in his local community throughout his ordeal.

“Mr. Leduc was subjected to the most enormous prejudice I’ve seen in my career,” defence counsel Marie Henein said in an interview last night. “There was vandalism — really obscene stuff painted on his walls — and threats that came through the mail.”

Ms. Henein and co-counsel Steven Skurka called the decision particularly courageous in light of the fact that the sensational allegations have convulsed the Eastern Ontario city since 1992.

A “small, vocal minority” of the community will always insist that a massive conspiracy existed among a well-connected elite to keep the purported pedophiles from being exposed and brought to justice, Ms. Henein said.

There was an almost-fictional quality to the lynch-mob mentality Mr. Leduc’s accusers exhibited, she added.

“I hope this is the end of it all, and that this community can move forward now.”

It was the second time the charges against Mr. Leduc have been stayed.

Three years ago, another judge ruled that a prosecutor had willfully failed to reveal contact between an alleged victim and a policeman — former Cornwall police constable Perry Dunlop — whose zeal for the case had turned him into a “vigilante.”

However, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned that decision and ordered a new trial.

Ms. Henein said the prosecution was the last one involving what the OPP codenamed Project Truth.

“It’s the end of the road,” she said.

The case erupted into national prominence after Mr. Dunlop campaigned to have the Ontario Provincial Police take over the case from his own force, which he said had bungled it.

His campaign resulted in the creation of Project Truth, which laid 114 charges against 14 men during 1998.

Among those charged were a doctor, a lawyer, a butcher, a bus driver, an organist and three Roman Catholic priests.

The 37 complainants alleged they were subjected to abuse ranging from buggery and anal intercourse to gross indecency.

However, some charges were withdrawn after it became apparent that Mr. Dunlop had interfered with witnesses and played fast and loose with evidence, Ms. Henein said yesterday.

Charges were laid against 15 men in Project Truth.

Jean-Luc Leblanc, who pleaded guilty to 12 charges in 2001, was the only one successfully prosecuted.

Two of the men charged committed suicide.

Ontario judge stays ‘Project Truth’ charges

Updated: Tue. Oct. 19 2004 9:16 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

An Ontario Superior Court judge has stayed charges against the sole remaining defendant in the case of an alleged pedophile ring in the southeastern city of Cornwall.

Citing unreasonable delays, Ontario Superior Court Judge Terrence Platana stayed eight charges against lawyer Jacques Leduc on Monday.

For Leduc, this is the second time charges against him have been stayed. In 2001, another judge ruled that a prosecutor had failed to disclose all the evidence.

That ruling was later overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which ordered a new trial.

Leduc, who was once the lawyer for Cornwall’s Roman Catholic archdiocese, was the last of more than 15 prominent citizens charged with sexually assaulting local teenagers.

The case rose to national prominence when former Cornwall police constable Perry Dunlop, saying his force had bungled the case, campaigned to have the Ontario Provincial Police take over.

The subsequent ‘Project Truth’ investigation of allegations that a pedophile ring existed, and that it was covered up, ultimately led to charges against 15 men in 1998.

Thirty-seven complainants alleged they were subjected to abuse ranging from buggery to gross indecency by an assortment of men that included a doctor, lawyer, butcher, bus driver and three Roman Catholic priests.

Only one of the accused, Jean-Luc Leblanc, was successfully prosecuted. He pleaded guilty to 12 charges in 2001.

Two of the accused committed suicide.

Now that the court case against Leduc is concuded, Premier Dalton McGuinty is free to make good on his promise of a full public inquiry into the case.

Judge throws out Cornwall sex case

CBC News Posted: Oct 19, 2004 9:54 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 20, 2004 11:28 AM ET

A judge has stayed charges against a former lawyer for the Roman Catholic church who was implicated in a sex-abuse scandal that rocked the eastern Ontario city of Cornwall.

Justice Terence Platana ruled Monday that Jacques Leduc’s Charter right to a speedy trial had been denied, placing much of the blame for the holdup on the Crown.

“The length of delay is in excess of six years. I clearly understand this is not an appropriate time period,” Platana said.

The charges against Leduc were stayed once before, in 2001, but the stay was overturned on appeal.

Leduc, once the lawyer for Cornwall’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese, was charged in June 1998 with multiple counts of sexual assault involving three teenaged boys. The crimes were alleged to have occurred from 1988 to 1996.

Leduc was the last of 15 people charged during a provincial police investigation called Project Truth, which looked into allegations of a pedophile ring involving some of the city’s most prominent men, including priests and lawyers. Some of the alleged crimes dated back to the 1950s.

The Crown successfully prosecuted only one man, who pleaded guilty to 12 charges in 2001.

In the other cases, the charges were stayed or the accused were found not guilty.

After the decision Monday, the 53-year-old Leduc spoke to reporters as police officers surrounded him for his own protection. He said he wants to get on with his life, acknowledging the toll the ordeal has taken on him and his family.

“Any grown man who’s accused of these awful crimes cannot ignore the impact on his life, and on the life of those he loves around him,” he said. “And I will live with that for the rest of my life.”

The conclusion of Leduc’s case could clear the way for a provincial inquiry, which has been promised by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

“It would be my intention to consult with the people of Cornwall, and, if their desire is to proceed with an inquiry, then we shall proceed,” McGuinty said after Monday’s court developments.