Judge denies application for mistrial in nurse assault case

Judge Yvette Finn has delivered her decision and will not not recuse herself in the assault trial of Randy Van Horlick.

Van Horlick is on trial for assaulting two nurses, Natasha Poirer and Teresa Thibeault, at the Dr. Georges–L.–Dumont Hospital in Moncton on March 11, 2019.

Midway through the trial, defence lawyer Nathan Gorham asked Judge Finn to recuse herself, citing an appearance of a conflict of interest. 

In February, Crown prosecutor Marie-Andrée Mallet called Natasha Poirier's family physician, Dr. Manon Leroux, to testify about Poirier's injuries.

But before proceeding with her questions, Mallet told the court that Judge Yvette Finn had done marriage contract work for Leroux before she was a judge. 

Finn said she had no recollection of working with the doctor, and Mallet said she did not foresee it being a problem. 

But Gorham disagreed. He said there could be a conflict-of-interest issue because of an enduring patient-client privilege and confidentiality. 

The judge scheduled a hearing for April to work out the possible conflict of interest issue before the trial was set to resume, originally scheduled to continue later in this month.

In her 13 page written decision delivered April 29,  Judge Finn wrote the only issue at play was whether the defendant had demonstrated "a reasonable apprehension of bias to warrant my recusal." 

Judge Finn found the application for a mistrial to be without merit and denied the application.