TORONTO — The man convicted of killing eight-year-old Victoria Stafford should get a publicly funded lawyer as he tries to appeal, Ontario’s highest court ruled Tuesday.
Michael Rafferty’s case is too complex for someone with a Grade 9 education in segregation and with no access to a law library to handle on his own with the assistance of duty counsel, Appeal Court Justice Marc Rosenberg ruled.
“In my opinion it is desirable in the interests of justice that the appellant be represented,” Rosenberg wrote.
Duty counsel provide a “remarkable service” to unrepresented inmates, but they can’t be expected to take on a case this complex, with some arguments involving “an attack on the tactical decisions made by very experienced trial counsel,” Rosenberg wrote.
Rafferty, 33, had been turned down four times by Legal Aid since his convictions in May 2012 for first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping in Tori’s death.
Rosenberg ordered the case sent back to Legal Aid Ontario for reconsideration, but if Rafferty is still turned down, the lawyer who represented him on this motion will be appointed for the appeal and he will be paid by the attorney general for Ontario.