Port McNeill RCMP violated suspect's Charter rights during detention, judge rules
Port McNeill RCMP violated suspect's Charter rights during detention, judge rules
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted a reduced prison sentence to a Greater Victoria mother who was found guilty of luring and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. (CTV News)
Mounties in Port McNeill violated a suspect's Charter rights by failing to allow him to contact a lawyer promptly after his 2019 drug trafficking arrest, a judge has ruled.
As a result of the decision, Crown prosecutors cannot rely on evidence gained from the search of two homes in their case against Alexander Morgan Haenisch.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robin A. M. Baird issued his voir dire decision in the case on Feb. 28, but it was posted online Friday.
A voir dire is, essentially, a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of evidence.
According to the decision, Haenisch argued that Port McNeill RCMP officers had violated his rights under both section 9 and section 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they arrested him on Feb. 6, 2019.
Section 9 of the Charter protects the right to be free from arbitrary arrest or detention, and Baird found that police did not violate this section when arresting Haenisch.
Officers had compiled "a compendium of credible, compelling and corroborative evidence showing the accused was probably dial-a-doping," the judge wrote in his decision. Because of this, there were ample grounds to arrest him without a warrant.
However, once Haenisch was under arrest, police repeatedly violated his section 10 right to legal counsel, the judge found.
Police informed Haenisch of the reason for his arrest and his right to counsel when they first arrested him, according to the decision. He did not ask to make a call at the scene of his arrest, but did tell police that he wished to speak with a lawyer.
When he was brought to the police station, police searched his person and found "16 spitballs of suspected cocaine," amounting to 10.5 grams, hidden in his underwear, Baird's decision reads. The judge considered this search incidental to the arrest, and therefore admissible as evidence.
After the search, however, police had an obligation to give him access to counsel, Baird wrote. Instead, Haenisch was held "incommunicado" for almost two hours, something the judge noted was part of the investigating officers' plan from the start.
Police claimed they held Haenisch in custody to prevent him from destroying evidence and so that they could determine appropriate conditions for his release once search warrants on two properties related to their investigation of him were completed.
While Baird found detaining Haenisch while waiting for the completion of the searches to be justified, he concluded that denying Haenisch the opportunity to speak to a lawyer during that time was not.
"The evidence shows that the police secured both the Beach Drive and Quatsino Crescent residences by no later than 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 6, 2020, approximately 20 minutes after the accused was arrested," the judge wrote.
"From that time, these alleged crime scenes remained firmly in control of the police, as the paperwork for search warrants was drawn up. If there had ever been any sincere concern about the destruction of evidence, it had definitely lapsed by then."
Likewise, police had an obligation to notify Haenisch promptly when the searches uncovered a loaded prohibited firearm in a bedroom police believed belonged to him, Baird wrote.
"In these circumstances, with an obvious change in the accused's exposure to serious penal liability, and especially because he intended to interrogate the accused about the firearm and other evidence discovered during the residential searches, it was incumbent upon Const. Brady promptly to inform the accused of the additional grounds for his arrest and the reason for his ongoing detention, and to advise him anew of his right to retain and instruct counsel without delay," the judge wrote.
"Instead, Const. Brady left the accused to sit in his cell for almost four hours without advising him of the reason for it or permitting him immediate access to critical legal advice about the new circumstances of his heightened criminal jeopardy. The failure to do this constituted, in my mind, a second serious breach of the accused's (Charter rights)."
As a result of these breaches, Baird ruled that the evidence obtained during the searches of the homes would not be admissible during Haenisch's trial.
Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston calls the allegations swirling around his objectivity 'quite simply false,' and said Tuesday he plans to push ahead with his work, launching public hearings next month
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should see to it that mass murderers serve their entire sentences in maximum-security prison.
The number of interactions between killer whales and humans has increased alarmingly in recent years. CTVNews.ca asked an expert to explain the reasons behind the increase in interactions, explore the types of encounters, and examine the implications for both humans and killer whales.
The PGA Tour ended its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia's golf venture and now is joining forces with it, making a stunning announcement Tuesday of a merger that creates a commercial operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour.
While the Liberals insist a Pacific Rim trade bloc should welcome anyone who meets its standards, an internal document suggests Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants China kept out.
The federal government has given an updated deal to a public-service union that signed its collective agreement in the fall in order to match deals reached with the Public Service Alliance of Canada during a strike this spring.
Prince Harry entered a courtroom witness box Tuesday, swearing to tell the truth in testimony against a tabloid publisher he accuses of phone hacking and other unlawful snooping.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
Many Canadian parents are stretching themselves thin — even going as far as to postpone their retirement in some cases — in order to help pay for their children’s education, according to a new survey.
The provincial wildfire service is warning British Columbians to have a go-bag and make an evacuation plan with this year's wildfire season off to an alarming start.
Many Canadian parents are stretching themselves thin — even going as far as to postpone their retirement in some cases — in order to help pay for their children’s education, according to a new survey.
Police in Australia are investigating the suspicious death of a woman who used to live in Surrey, BC, after her body was found in her apartment on the outskirts of Sydney.
Mounties in the town of McLennan, Alta. are hoping members of the public can help them identify two men who tried to steal a bank machine from the local ATB Financial.
Mounties in Peace River Alta. are asking residents to check their "businesses, homes, sheds and outbuildings" for any sign of 13-year-old Rocky Conrad Cardinal.
The actions of the teen who repeatedly slashed a North York massage parlour receptionist, killing her and injuring her manager, were an act of terrorism, an Ontario Supreme Court Justice found Monday in a 'historical' decision in Canada.
A grieving widow whose husband was run over and killed by a speeding OPP officer can't believe the force told her it won't hold a public hearing into the case because it decided the misconduct was 'not serious.'
Calgary-based Cenovus Energy says it has safely restarted a portion of its production that was shut down because of the threat of wildfires in northern and central Alberta.
Innisfail RCMP say an officer was attacked by the driver and passenger of a truck they'd stopped on suspicion of impaired driving on Saturday, but the accused's lawyer has a different story of the encounter.
One Quebec city that had been threatened by approaching wildfires has lifted an evacuation order, but other parts of the province continue to deal with out-of-control blazes that are taxing firefighting resources.
A 53-year-old man was shot and killed in the Montreal suburb of Dorval on Monday afternoon. A source told CTV News that the victim is Francesco Del Balso, who has links to Montreal's Mafia.
Investigators out of the Quebec police organized crime task force was in Kanesatake and St. Jerome on Tuesday conducting raids and interviewing potential suspects.
Hammonds Plains Road reopened to traffic early Tuesday morning more than week after wildfires began in the Halifax area. Officials say the fires in the area are contained, though crews continue to deal with hot spots and flare ups.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
A Ukrainian woman who now lives in Winnipeg is hoping one day she will be able to bring her husband's remains to her new home, a place he hoped one day he too would be able to call home.
It’s been 79 years since the war effort known as ‘D-Day,’ which eventually led to the liberation of western Europe during World War II. The day was marked with a service in Normandy with the Royal Regina Rifles on hand.
Police in Barrie say another unsanctioned truck rally held in the city's north end over the weekend drew hundreds of participants and onlookers in a "chaotic scene of disrespect and total disregard for private property."
While Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) publicly mulled moving its downtown emergency shelter to a location on 20th Street near the city's core, city documents reveal the wellness centre's present Fairhaven area location was heavily favoured early in the process.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
While firefighters get more forest fires under control in northern Ontario, travel restrictions declared under an emergency order are being expanded in several communities.
A 13-year-old male from Elliot Lake in northern Ontario has been charged with sexual assault again, bringing the total to 10, after another survivor came forward.
A grieving widow whose husband was run over and killed by a speeding OPP officer can't believe the force told her it won't hold a public hearing into the case because it decided the misconduct was 'not serious.'
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted a reduced prison sentence to a Greater Victoria mother who was found guilty of luring and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. (CTV News)
