Assault charge against former N.W.T. MLA stayed

CBC
·1 min read
The courthouse in Yellowknife. A charge of assault against Steve Norn was stayed on Friday. (Walter Strong/CBC - image credit)
The courthouse in Yellowknife. A charge of assault against Steve Norn was stayed on Friday. (Walter Strong/CBC - image credit)

A Crown prosecutor stayed a charge of assault against former Northwest Territories MLA Steve Norn on Friday.

The charge, laid in January, was related to an alleged incident that occurred in Yellowknife two months earlier.

Norn was elected to represent the riding of Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh in the last territorial election.

However, he was expelled from the legislature midway through his term after being caught violating COVID-19 isolation rules.

In a phone call, Norn's lawyer, Jay Bran, referred questions about the stay to the Crown prosecutor's office.

On Friday afternoon Erin Eacott, a deputy chief federal prosecutor with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, said prosecutors regularly review evidence in a case. And that upon a review of the case against Norn, the Crown no longer saw a reasonable probability of conviction.

A charge being stayed means the legal proceedings are paused either temporarily or indefinitely. In the vast majority of cases, stayed charges result in no further action.

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