Law360 Canada ( March 5, 2021, 2:17 PM EST) -- Appeal by the Crown from a judgment of the Ontario Court of Appeal that set aside the convictions of two accused for terrorism offences and ordered a new trial. In 2013, the respondents Esseghaier and Jaser were charged with terrorism offences. The parties agreed that challenges for cause were necessary to ensure the impartiality of the jury. The trial judge refused Jaser’s request to exclude prospective jurors during the challenge for cause process by rotating triers. The trial judge imposed static triers in accordance with Jaser’s alternate position. Esseghaier and Jaser appealed their subsequent convictions on several grounds, including errors in the jury selection process. The appeal was bifurcated to address the jury selection issue first. The Court of Appeal found the trial judge should have granted Jaser’s request and that the imposition of static triers meant the jury had been improperly constituted. It concluded that the convictions could not stand, and the error could not be cured by the operation of the curative proviso in s. 686(1)(b)(iv) of the Criminal Code....