FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – A Fort St. John man accused of possessing and distributing child pornography has been released on bail.
Steven Glazier, 42, made a brief appearance in Fort St. John Supreme Court by video on Tuesday, attending the court proceedings from the holding cells at the local RCMP detachment. He was arrested on a public interest warrant on April 19th following his lawyer’s decision to withdraw from the case.
The charges stem back to February 7th, 2019, and December 5th, 2019, with both instances for possessing and distributing child pornography in Fort St. John. He has not been found guilty of the charges, and a three-week trial is slated to begin September 6th, 2022.
Lawyer Tony Zipp says he had to withdraw as Glazier’s legal counsel for after having “enormous difficulty” attempting to get in touch with his client for more than 10 days in a row in late February and March, citing Glazier’s inability to provide crucial information awaited by both him and Crown prosecutors, court heard.
The case was adjourned last September in expectation of said information, and Zipp was expecting the information by April 1st, court heard.
“I really cannot continue to act for Mr. Glazier. His inability to contact me makes it such that the solicitor-client relationship simply cannot continue,” said Zipp on April 19th.
Glazier’s last court appearance was on August 13th, 2021, and Crown prosecutor Jeremy Fung requested the public interest warrant in the interest of moving the matter ahead, saying any trial would be relatively “straight forward” in his opinion.
Justice Marguerite Church granted Glazier bail on the grounds that a $5,000 surety was paid and in line with previous release orders, including a ban from public parks and swimming areas or daycares, having no contact with minors or anyone under the age of 18, and having no access to the internet unless otherwise required by an employer.
Glazier has yet to retain a new lawyer. He is expected to appear in court tomorrow at 9:15 am for a pretrial conference to address his lack of legal representation.