GRAND BANK, N.L. — The Crown has withdrawn charges against a 57-year-old St. Alban's man.
Clayton Joseph Organ had been charged with aggravated assault and uttering a death threat in relation to an alleged attack that occurred in Marystown on July 5.
One man was sent to the Burin Peninsula Health Care Centre with severe injuries as a result of the altercation. He was later airlifted to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's.
Crown attorney Allison Manning told The Southern Gazette on Friday, Feb. 8 the decision was made to withdraw the charges when it was not sure if the charges against Organ could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Part of our role in the Crown Attorney’s Office is to be consistently assessing the likelihood of conviction in relation to charges,” she explained. “At times information arises during the course of a trial that causes us to reassess whether or not we have sufficient evidence to prove the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Basically in this circumstance, something came to our attention from a witness that we had not heard before and it caused us to determine we didn’t have the sufficient likelihood of conviction to proceed.”
Manning noted there is a very high standard to prove an offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
"It's basically to the level of an absolute certainty, so if we can’t meet that, we can’t proceed,” she said.
