TECHNICIAN TRIAL WON’T BEGIN UNTIL NEXT YEAR

The case of an Ontario technician facing criminal charges related to a vehicle safety inspection is not likely to go to trial until 2014.

Pretrial discussions in the case of Joe Ramono of Scarborough, Ont., were held yesterday in Peterborough, Ont. He is charged with criminal negligence causing death.

Crown prosecutors and defense lawyers involved in the case met yesterday to set dates for the preliminary trial proceedings which would pave the way for the official trial.

Lisa Wannamaker has been named as the crown attorney in the case. The preliminary trial will not be held until fall 2013.

Details of the pretrial discussions and preliminary proceedings cannot be reported.

As we reported last year, Ramono was charged with criminal negligence causing death in November 2012, following an investigation by the Peterborough detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

The charge stems from a fatal head-on collision near Peterborough, Ont. on Aug. 3, 2012, in which a Dodge pickup truck driven by 21-year-old Joseph William Towns of Lakefield, Ont. crashed into a vehicle driven by Abigail MacNaughton, 27, of Peterborough.

Towns was charged with dangerous driving causing death, criminal negligence causing death, and two counts of uttering forged documents.

The Dodge pickup truck had been certified as safe by Ramono a month earlier, on July 4, 2012. The results of the police investigation into the crash suggest that the pickup truck did not meet safety standards and shouldn’t have been on the road.

The arrest was originally reported Nov. 7, 2012, by Peterborough This Week.