HALIFAX -- A Halifax-area navy sailor convicted of sexually assaulting a woman he met over Facebook has won a new trial because of ineffective legal representation.
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal overturned Paul Simpson's conviction, saying his trial would not inspire public confidence in the criminal justice system -- and noting the Crown itself conceded the appeal.
The appeal judges said Simpson's lawyer, Laura McCarthy, did not appear to give effective, dedicated representation, noting she caused multiple delays and did not prepare him to testify.
"There was nothing complicated about this trial," the three-judge panel said in its ruling.
"A reasonable member of the public would not view the representation provided to Mr. Simpson as emblematic of a fair trial. The Crown's conceding of this appeal reflects that."
The 43-year-old leading seaman is accused of assaulting the woman on their second date, on Feb. 23, 2014.
The provincial court judge who convicted Simpson last June, Judge Theodore Tax, said the two had some consensual activity on both dates, but she told him she would not have intercourse that night. She repeatedly told him no before he forced himself on her, Tax said.
McCarthy had taken over as defence counsel for Simpson from her husband, Lyle Howe, after he was suspended from legal practice.
The appeal court noted late arrivals in court, disagreement over admitted facts in the case, an abandoned application to question the alleged victim about prior sexual activity, and Simpson's claim that she did not advise him on how to present himself on the witness stand.
"Mr. Simpson's trial cannot be seen as one that would reassure the public to have confidence in the administration of criminal justice," said the appeal court.
"Its appearance was not of effective, dedicated representation. It was plagued by delays occasioned by Ms. McCarthy and the distractions of a proposed section 276.1 application that had no merit and never materialized. It was not characterized by a diligent preparation of Mr. Simpson for testifying."
The appeal judges ordered that Simpson, who was sentenced to three years in jail, be released pending a new trial.
Simpson had never met the woman before inviting her to a 2013 New Year's Eve party at his house over Facebook.
They had one date in late December, and he asked her to dinner about two months later. She agreed to go back to his Middle Sackville, N.S., house afterwards, but told him there would be "no sex," according to Tax's ruling.
After some consensual activity in his bedroom, she told him she did not want him to touch her, but he ignored her, Tax said. Simpson insisted she never told him no, but acknowledged she was "visibly upset" afterwards.
"You just raped me and I don't know what you might have," she told him, according to the judge's ruling.
A cab driver who drove her home testified she was crying and told him she'd been raped, and he took her to hospital.
The woman has since been diagnosed with PTSD, suffers from social anxiety and has been self-mutilating, Tax said.
"Over the past three years, her life has changed and been turned inside out, filled with despair and depression on a daily basis," he said.
Simpson, a sonar technician, is married and has a daughter, and his naval colleagues described him as reliable and focused, the ruling said.
"Mr. Simpson's wife describes him as a gentle, calm and patient person who is a dedicated family man and that everyone speaks of him 'very highly,"' said the judge. "Mr. Simpson's brother, who is a correctional officer in Ontario, stated that his brother is a family man, and would never be abusive to a woman."
