Betsy Powell January 04, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Markham man who planned to argue in court Tuesday that he was unlawfully ordered to take a COVID-19 test and turn the results over to police has abandoned that fight after the Crown dropped the condition of his release on bail, his lawyer said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the issue of whether that \u201coutrageous\u201d bail condition was constitutional remains unresolved and still needs to be argued in Ontario Superior Court, says defence lawyer Ian McCuaig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael Arana, 27, was arrested during a boisterous, high-profile pandemic lockdown protest outside Adamson Barbeque<\/a> on Nov. 26 and charged with six counts of assaulting a peace officer, two counts of uttering threats and one count of obstructing a peace officer. It\u2019s alleged he spit at officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor Mr. Arana, we won, but there\u2019s a bigger issue here… the issue becomes whether this an appropriate bail condition at all,\u201d McCuaig said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arana represented himself at a bail hearing where the justice of the peace, at the request of the Crown, agreed to release him from custody if he immediately scheduled a COVID-19 test and promised to provide police with the test results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he learned what happened, McCuaig stepped in to launch a legal challenge to the \u201cinvasive medical testing\u201d and requirement to report \u201cpotentially personal health information to the police as a condition of his bail,\u201d which violates his charter rights, reads the bail review application record filed in court on Arana\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Crown\u2019s decision to require the unrepresented Applicant (who has a known history of mental illness) to either accept this unlawful condition or spend the weekend in COVID-19 isolation in jail awaiting a contested hearing is oppressive, remarkable, and reprehensible. It is a marked and unacceptable departure for the reas<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crown drops bail condition that forced man arrested at Toronto BBQ protest to submit COVID-19 test [In political cases, the Crown often seeks to impose restrictions or conditions that have nothing to do with ensuring that the accused will show … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Adam-Skelly-being-arrested-3.jpg\")
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