Local Justice of the Peace Anna Gibbon had her misconduct hearing resume on Friday.
Gibbon is accused of acting as an advocate for her son after he was charged with failure to yield in February of 2019.
The proceedings focused on Presenting Council Lawyer Linda Rothstein providing her submissions.
The theme of her reasoning as to why Gibbon’s actions were judicial misconduct did not focus on a sole reason, but looked at her behaviour as a whole.
Rothstein stressed that a Justice of the Peace should not abuse their power of judicial office or use it inappropriately.
Presenting Council says if a member of the public saw Gibbon’s actions, pointing to the Jody Kontzie interaction, it would undermine their faith in the fairness of the justice system.
Kontzie was a Supervisor of Court Services during the failure to yield case, and Gibbon entered her office after the son’s case was pushed after someone left a sticky note on her son’s Certificate of Offense.
Kontzie testified that Gibbon was angry and used profanity during the interaction.
Rothstein says regardless of Gibbon’s demeaner during this discussion, it was inappropriate for her to enter the office and discuss the case in the first place.
During Gibbon’s questioning at an earlier date, she stressed while she was frustrated, she did not use profanity during the discussion.
Rothstein also brought up how Gibbon had invited His Worship Gord Chaput, who was to be the judge in her son’s trial, to her home.
Gibbon had said previously she was unaware he was going to be involved in the trial, and the invitation was not out of character for her as she often entertained out of town guests during their visits.
Rothstein argued that Gibbon would have known there were only two possibly judges in town that would reside over her son’s case, Gibbon inviting the other one over as well.
As a result of this Rothstein stressed Gibbon was aware she was inviting over the individual that would take part in her son’s proceedings.
Gibbon has harshly denied she knew Chaput was the judge for the trial, and was not trying to coerce him in any way.
The next hearing date is Nov. 12, where Rothstein will conclude her submissions.
After that Gibbon’s lawyer Eugene Bhattacharya will have his opportunity to dispute some of the previous information and provide reasoning as to why Gibbon’s actions do not constitute judicial misconduct.
Gibbon faces a number of punishments should the complaint be upheld including a warning or reprimand, an apology or further education, a suspension with or without pay or a recommendation to remove Gibbon from office.
Gibbon has been reassigned to a court outside of Thunder Bay.
