Photo: Contributed

UPDATE: 11:15 a.m.

Stating a demonstration of human compassion does not amount to judicial bias, Judge Monica McParland ruled she will stay on as the presiding judge in a sexual interference case.

She made her ruling in Kelowna Provincial Court Friday morning.

Defence attorneys had asked McParland to recuse herself from the case, citing several examples of perceived bias against their client. Among the complaints was an assertion the judge was crying during the victim's impact statement.

In a 13-page decision, Judge McParland agreed with defence submissions that disputed a majority of the "facts" as presented by the defence.

One of those was a statement the judge was not crying, as stated in the media, but "briefly dabbed a tear from her eye with a tissue."

She added that, when reviewing the written and audio transcripts of the hearing in question, "the allegations made by defence are simply not accurate."

"On the issue of the court's emphatic response to the victim impact statement, this was perhaps overstated and sensationalized," she wrote.

"The Supreme Court of Canada and the Canadian Judicial Council, commentaries on judicial conduct, both agree that judges are human, they are not expected to be robots.

"There is, therefore, nothing wrong with the court showing emotion."

She summarized there was no reliable evidentiary foundation to support bias from the perspective of an informed, reasonable and right minded person who is fully apprised of the facts.

The defence lawyer said she was not surprised at the ruling.

The two sides will reconvene Aug. 30 to fix a date for further testimony prior to sentencing. Crown expects to call two further witnesses, while the defence expects three more witnesses will take the stand.

Jeremy Carlson was charged with assault and sexual interference of a person under the age of 16 and later pleaded guilty to sexual interference of a minor. The defence has pled guilty to the sexual interference charge.

ORIGINAL: 6 a.m.

A judge who cried during a victim impact statement is expected to release a decision today on whether she'll disqualify herself from sentencing a man for sexual assault.

The man's lawyer told Kelowna provincial court Judge Monica McParland in July that she is incapable of delivering a fair sentence because she became emotional during the victim's statement and she scoffed at the defence suggestion for a sentence.

Defence lawyer Jacqueline Halliburn asked the judge to recuse herself, saying judges don't cry in every sexual interference case and she displayed bias when she scoffed at the suggestion her client serve a 90-day intermittent jail term.

Crown prosecutor Angela Ross countered that judges are expected to demonstrate compassion and humanity and no scoff was heard from the judge in a court recording when Halliburn made the sentencing suggestion.

Jeremy Carlson was charged with assault and sexual interference of a person under the age of 16 and later pleaded guilty to sexual interference of a minor.

The Crown had asked for up to 20 months in jail, followed by probation.