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Brant CAS affidavit in backing staff testimony thrown out by judge.


TORONTO -- An Ontario Judge rejected an affidavit affidavit

Written statement made voluntarily, confirmed by the oath or affirmation of the party making it, and signed before an officer empowered to administer such oaths.
 in a children's aid case, saying its sole purpose was to bolster the credibility of a former Brant brant or brant goose, common name for a species of wild sea goose. The American brant, Branta bernicla, breeds in the Arctic and winters along the Atlantic coast.  CAS employee "in a way that usurped the function of cross-examination of the former worker and the court's assessment of her credibility."

In granting the motion by the child's mother to expunge To destroy; blot out; obliterate; erase; efface designedly; strike out wholly. The act of physically destroying information—including criminal records—in files, computers, or other depositories.  the affidavit from the court's continuing case record, Ontario Court of Justice The Ontario Court of Justice is a Provincial Court for the Canadian province of Ontario. This court oversees matters relating to family law and criminal law.

This court is subordinate in relationship to the "superior" courts.
, Lawrence P. Thibideau said the affidavit sworn by Marilee Sherry, a current Brant CAS employee, "does not set out in an independent way the facts and circumstances" that indicates they are "believed to be true by Ms. Sherry based upon her own knowledge and her own investigation" of the case file kept by a former Brant CAS employee, Jenna Heideman.

In the original case, an affidavit, which was sworn by Heldeman when she was a Brant CAS employee, constituted a major portion of evidence for the Brant CAS in a child welfare case and also chronicled her involvement with the child and family for about one year until December 2003.

However, in 2004, Heideman's credibility was jeopardized, when as a witness, in a child welfare case in another jurisdiction for her new employer, another children's aid society
See also Children's Aid Society (Canada).


The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) is a private charitable organization based in New York City.
, the judge discounted her testimony as entirely probative Having the effect of proof, tending to prove, or actually proving.

When a legal controversy goes to trial, the parties seek to prove their cases by the introduction of evidence.
 (i.e. set out to prove an argument) and "called into serious question the veracity veracity (vras´itē),
n
 and the conduct of Heideman."

In an attempt to repair apparent damage to previous cases in which Heideman appeared for the society, the Brant CAS had Ms. Sherry audit the Heideman files to verify Heideman's findings and evidence contained in her original affidavit.

But Justice Thibideau agreed with the mother's contention that the Sherry affidavit was oath helping, while also noting although Heideman's credibility was disparaged in another case in another jurisdiction, it does not impugne her credibility with this case, and she could be called as a future witness, or her affidavit put before the court by the society.
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Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:Child & Family
Publication:Community Action
Geographic Code:1CONT
Date:Mar 21, 2005
Words:329
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