Mistrial in B.C. sex assault case over Crown dating paralegal [Video]

The B.C. Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of sexual assault after he learned his defence lawyer’s paralegal was dating the Crown prosecutor during his trial.

Justice Veronica Jackson ruled last week in Courtenay, B.C., that Cameron Gagne should get a new trial because his lawyer, Eric Chesterley, and prosecutor Nicholas Grabe failed to tell the court about the relationship.

Gagne was found guilty of sexual assault by a jury in November 2023, and the judge’s ruling said that at a hearing last March, Chesterley disclosed that he knew his paralegal had been dating the prosecutor, telling the court the relationship was not “entirely unknown” to him.

The ruling said Gagne was shocked to learn of the “romantic relationship” between the prosecutor and his lawyer’s paralegal, who assisted Chesterley throughout the trial that began in October 2023.

Neither Gagne’s current nor former lawyer responded to …