BY KEITH LACEY
A judge did not have to make a declaration of a mistrial in a case against a Sudbury man charged in a fatal boating accident two years ago, citing a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that a jury trial hasn't officially commenced until that jury hears evidence.
Justice Patricia Hennessy said the jury she dismissed Tuesday will be replaced from the same pool of about 200 who gathered Monday at the Sudbury courthouse as possible jurors in the trial of Michael Christakos.
That same jury pool, minus the 12 jurors and two alternate jurors who were selected, will reconvene Monday morning when a new jury will be selected.
Hennessy told the jury she couldn't divulge why they were being dismissed and a publication ban remains in effect prohibiting publication of what
happened in court after the jury was selected.
Christakos, 41, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges relating to a boating accident on June 22, 2003. Samuel Pisani, 23, was killed when two boats collided. Two other people were injured.
Christakos has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death, two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, dangerous driving, impaired driving causing death, impaired driving and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
The trial against Christakos will proceed immediately once the new jury is picked, said Hennessy.
