Two Hamilton Crown attorneys made such critical mistakes during a murder trial that a Superior Court justice has issued an "extremely rare" judicial stay — effectively stopping all proceedings and letting the accused off the hook for one of Canada’s most serious criminal charges.

Salomon Bashir was on trial last month, accused of the second-degree murder of Everton Frost, 23, when Justice Giulia Gambacorta issued the stay of what was supposed to be a month-long jury trial, despite protests from the Crown.

She said that in her ruling Sept. 22, assistant Crown attorneys Michael Dean and Steve Kim, as well as Hamilton police, “approached the prosecution with apathy and a continued negligence” that jeopardized Bashir’s right to a fair trial.

Two key missteps, Gambacorta said, were when Dean

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