PUBLICATION:
DATE:
2005.01.03
PAGE:
B1
SECTION:
City
BYLINE:
Bruce Owen and Mike McIntyre
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Bail
courts need better access to accused's past
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Senior
Crown Don Slough told the Free Press his office is looking into how Crown
attorneys can access an accused person's parole documents to see if they've ever
had their statutory release revoked.
The
issue raises questions of how much Crown attorneys know about the background of
suspects appearing in bail court, and how much a judge is told before they're
asked to release an accused on bail.
The
matter of a suspect's parole record was highlighted in a recent Free Press
investigation that revealed a
Saran
has now been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his uncle
in the Maples last month. He suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face
and is in custody at the Remand Centre.
Judge
Robert Kopstein was told by Saran's lawyer during the August 2003 bail hearing
that Saran had been out on parole since 2001 and had made good use of his two
years of freedom.
The
Free Press later reported there were several ongoing concerns about Saran's
alleged drug use while on parole between 2001 and 2003, particularly his refusal
to abstain from using cocaine and attend mandatory drug treatment.
In
fact, on two occasions in 2002, he failed drug tests administered by
Correctional Service of Canada officials, and after two failed chances to go
into drug counselling, finally had his parole revoked in June 2002, the
documents say.
Saran
was released again on statutory release two months later and was still on
supervised release when he allegedly fired a shotgun toward three women in a
back alley behind his Maples family home in July 2003. The pellets struck a
vehicle but there were no injuries.
Those
charges remain before the courts and have not been proven.
However,
that incident prompted his statutory release to be revoked by the National
Parole Board -- a fact that also wasn't conveyed to Kopstein when he granted
Saran bail weeks later.
The
parole documents are considered public information and were obtained by the Free
Press within four hours of filing a written request.
The
He
said another factor is the workload faced by some Crowns, who handle dozens of
bail applications a week and don't have the resources to appeal every one they
lose.
The
Queen's Bench bail review docket, which is held every Monday and Thursday, is
filled with a large majority of cases initiated by defence lawyers who are
taking another shot at getting their clients out of jail.
Another
pressure is that any demand by the Crown for additional information, like parole
records, cannot cause a suspect to be unnecessarily detained, said
However,
the issue is another example of how much access Crown prosecutors have to a
suspect's records and current criminal status.
On
Oct. 13, Kopstein released three men charged with a gang-related kidnapping on
bail after a Crown prosecutor said he had limited material on the case,
including victim and witness statements and medical reports.
Specifically,
the Crown said he had not been supplied any information by police regarding the
two victims' injuries or how police found them after they were allegedly held
for ransom for 48 hours during the Thanksgiving weekend.
The prosecutor, Gerry Bowering, asked for the bail hearing to be adjourned, but was denied by Kopstein.
"It
makes no sense if they didn't have it," police spokesperson Const. Shelly
Glover said at the time.
Glover
said the Crown had access to several different police arrest summaries, along
with numerous pages of photographs of the victims' alleged injuries. There was
also information about them being duct-taped and beaten while being held hostage
in a city home, she said.
The
Crown did appeal Kopstein's decision to the Court of Queen's Bench weeks later
but lost, allowing the accused to remain free on bail.
The
Crown's review of its policies on bail comes as federal officials mull over a
November 2003 request by provincial Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh to revamp
Under
Mackintosh's proposal, people with criminal records would be automatically
denied bail. The rare exceptions would come when a defence lawyer makes an
argument that a judge feels is particularly compelling.
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Serious
crimes committed after release
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Here
are several examples of people on parole or statutory release who were charged
with serious crimes shortly after their release:
Dec.
29, 1997 -- Jason Starr shoots grocery clerk Jeff Giles in the face with a
shotgun during a hold-up. Six days before, Starr was locked behind bars at
Dec.
22, 2001 -- Robert Sand and his brother Danny, along with a female accomplice,
gun down RCMP Const. Dennis Strongquill after a routine checkstop near Russell.
Both had been released on parole weeks earlier in
Danny
Sand, 21, was released on day parole in September 2001 after serving 16 months
of a two year, two-day sentence for a string of crimes, including trying to run
down a police officer.
Robert
Sand, 23, was released in November 2001 after serving three-and-a-half years of
a seven-year prison term for a rash of offences, including fleeing an armed
robbery where another occupant of his stolen vehicle fired a gun at police.
Robert
Sand was convicted of murder June 13, 2003, and sentenced to life in prison with
no parole for 25 years.
Danny
Sand was killed by a police sniper in a standoff following Strongquill's murder.
Feb.
22, 2002 -- Dan Courchene and a second man are implicated in the shooting of
RCMP Const. Mike Templeton during a traffic stop outside Portage La Prairie.
At
the time, Courchene is wanted on a warrant for failing to meet his parole
officer. He had been sentenced to six years in prison for taking part in the
1996 Headingley jail riot and cutting off another inmate's finger. He was out on
statutory release after serving two-thirds of his sentence at Edmonton
Institution.
He
was sentenced to 10 years in prison last May 25 after pleading guilty to
attempted murder.
Co-accused
Michael Regamy remains before the courts on the same attempted murder charge.