A Sudbury man about to take a plea on charges related to child sexual abuse material and bestiality has again reversed course, asking now for a judge-only trial.
James Maguire, 37, is charged with accessing child pornography, possessing child pornography, bestiality and compelling the commission of bestiality.
He was set to have a judge and jury trial beginning Jan. 8, but that was abruptly put over when Maguire decided to plead guilty to the charges, which was to happen in Sudbury Superior Court on March 25.
Instead, Maguire’s lawyer, George Fournier, told Justice Robbie Gordon his client now wants a judge-only trial, asking for an adjournment to assignment court on April 16 to set a date.
Maguire has been in custody since he was charged on March 27, 2021 as part of an “extensive” 13-month investigation by the Greater Sudbury Police Internet Child Exploitation Unit.
Fournier told Gordon his client was taking issue with the agreed statement of fact — a statement of facts that has been agreed by all parties in legal matter to be true — which Maguire’s guilty plea would be based on.
“There is an issue with the facts on the proposed statement of facts, which we need further time to discuss, " he said. He asked for the adjournment, to set trial dates, but noted “it may be resolved before then.”
Crown Attorney Jenny Halajian told Gordon the issue was not with the facts, but the “counts” in the agreed statement of facts.
Fournier, for the defence, countered there were facts at issue, pointing to differences between Crown and defence email correspondence and the proposed statement of facts.
Halajian also took issue with the length of time the case had been ongoing, now 36 months.
“It's not that the facts themselves are what's substantially stopping this from proceeding and of course, the Crown at this point is very concerned with the way this was set for trial, then resolved almost on the eve of trial and here we are three months later and we're not proceeding.”
For his part, Fournier said, “all I can tell you is that I reviewed this document with my client, who takes issue with some of those facts.”
Gordon agreed, telling Fournier that if the matter is resolved, it must be done quickly.
“Next time the matter will go to trial,” said too much time has been lost and “we can’t operate this way.”
Fournier said, “I understand, but I have instructions to follow.”
The matter was then adjourned to assignment court April 16 for a trial date to be set.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com.
