New Chief Crown Attorney of Cape Breton Region

Dan MacRury was appointed chief Crown attorney of the Cape Breton Region today, Sept. 24, announced Martin Herschorn, director of the Public Prosecution Service.

"I am very pleased that a lawyer of Mr. MacRury's calibre will be providing leadership to our Cape Breton team and I look forward to working with him in his new role," said Mr. Herschorn.

A native of Sydney, Mr. MacRury is a 22-year veteran in the practice of criminal law, having been both a Crown attorney and a defence lawyer.

As defence counsel, Mr. MacRury practiced primarily in the area of criminal and family law with Nova Scotia Legal Aid. He joined the Public Prosecution Service in 1996.

Working in the Sydney and Halifax offices, Mr. MacRury has appeared in Provincial and Supreme courts. He has been involved in more than 30 Supreme Court judge and jury cases, including several murder cases. He joined the appeals division in 2004 and has appeared many times in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

Mr. MacRury has represented the Attorney General of Nova Scotia in the Supreme Court of Canada on three occasions, including the case of R. vs. Sharpe which established the current law on child pornography.

He resumed trial work in the Sydney office last year.

Mr. MacRury has been a member of the federal, provincial, territorial working group on cybercrime since 2001 and is a member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police E-Crime Committee. He was chosen for his expertise in cybercrime as a member of the Canadian delegation to the 11th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Bangkok, Thailand in 2005. At the conference, he was elected vice-chairman of the United Nations workshop on measures to combat computer.

Mr. MacRury is past president of the Canadian Criminal Justice Association, past president of the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia, and past chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Bar Association, Nova Scotia Branch. He is the recipient of the association's 2006 Community Service Award. He was appointed to the Queen's Counsel in 2005.

Mr. MacRury replaces Justice Ken Haley who was appointed a judge of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Family Division, in September.