A Provincial Court judge blasted lawyers for wasting her time Tuesday in a case involving a former bookkeeper accused of defrauding a Burnaby school of $66,000.
Jodi Fingarsen, bookkeeper at Alpha Secondary from 2007 to 2010, was scheduled to plead guilty to fraud over $5,000 Tuesday afternoon.
It was the fifth time she’s been scheduled to make the plea since a February 2014 plea was thrown out by Judge Frances Howard, who said Fingarsen had avoided taking real responsibility for her crime.
On Tuesday, Judge Maria Giardini unleashed a tirade when told by Crown counsel Peter Stabler that Fingarsen’s lawyer John Banks was once again asking to have the case put over.
Giardini said she had spent her lunch and other breaks reading Fingarsen’s lengthy presentencing and psychological reports, and the lack of notice from lawyers showed total disrespect to her and the court.
Stabler said he wasn’t informed until after lunch that Banks, who had been held up by a Supreme Court case in Abbotsford, wouldn’t be available for the 2 p.m. appearance.
“Well, I guess you can pass on my comments to Mr. Banks,” Giardini said. “It was totally disrespectful and inconsiderate. The parties come to the court expecting the judges to have done their homework, and I take that seriously, so if there is a matter where there is a pre-sentence report – and there was a long pre-sentence report, a year old, I might add – as well as about 10-12 pages of a psychological report, I read it so I can be prepared to be able to do the right thing and have the right information before me.”
Giardini went on to say communication between prosecutors dealing with court lists for room 102 of Vancouver Provincial Court on Main Street needed to improve.
“…Either there’s some communication here or there’s not,” she said. “This is not a drop-in centre, and that’s how it’s being treated, and it is not helpful to anyone. It’s not helpful to you folks, it’s not helpful to the court and it is a waste of time. It makes us incredibly inefficient to be sitting here for periods of time, twiddling our thumbs, while we wait for counsel to arrive.”
Fingarsen’s appearance was rescheduled for Wednesday morning.
