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Martin: Edmonton Police Service crossed line trying to influence sentencing

Police forces across Alberta have a specific role in the criminal justice system and that doesn't include what charges are ultimately proceeded against any particular accused person, or what punishment they ultimately receive

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Court of King’s Bench Justice Jody Fraser wrote some strong words of criticism recently about the Edmonton Police Service and comments it made about a case he was presiding over.

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In his written decision sentencing admitted child killer Ashley Rattlesnake to an eight-year prison term for manslaughter, Fraser took direct aim at comments the service made through its legal counsel, Megan Hankewich.

Martin: Edmonton Police Service crossed line trying to influence sentencing Back to video

Last September, the EPS sent a letter to the Alberta justice minister and media, protesting what was a proposed plea deal for Rattlesnake to a reduced charge of manslaughter (she had been charged with second-degree murder) and a joint submission for an eight-year sentence. The Crown later said the eight-year deal wasn’t on the table and argued for a nine-year sentence.

Threat to release details

In the letter, EPS said it would release details of the investigation to the public if the original deal went through.

“The Edmonton Police Service objected to the Crown’s exercise of its discretion to resolve this matter through a guilty plea to manslaughter,” Fraser said in his sentencing decision.

“Edmonton Police Service has said that it is waiting to hear my decision on sentence before deciding whether or not to release ‘significant information’ regarding this matter.”

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The implication was clear: The service felt there was more evidence than was put before the court regarding Rattlesnake’s culpability in the death of eight-year-old Nina Napope Dumais, who was under the offender’s care at the time of her death.

But that’s not a call for the police to make in any prosecution.

Police often gather evidence that is deemed either inadmissible, or irrelevant to a particular case. It is not for investigators to determine that but the decision is left to either the prosecutor, in reviewing the evidence, or a judge asked to make a ruling on admissibility.

Justice Fraser, a former Crown lawyer who would be well versed on the different roles police and prosecutors bring to the table, was highly critical of the apparent attempt by the EPS to intervene in the case.

“I find the actions of the Edmonton Police Service to be reprehensible,” he wrote.

“The veiled threat that they may release more information about this matter if they are not happy about the sentence I impose comes dangerously close, and may actually cross the line, into an attempt to wilfully obstruct, pervert, or defeat the course of justice in a judicial proceeding.”

Section 139 of the Criminal Code of Canada, under the heading obstructing justice, says, in part, this: “Every person who intentionally attempts in any manner … to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice” is guilty of an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

So, in Fraser’s view, the position of the EPS at the very least borders on criminal behaviour.

Woman guilty of killing eight-year-old gets 8-year manslaughter sentence

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Sadly, the apparent attempt by the capital’s police force to influence a case before the courts was supported by Premier Danielle Smith, who has been generally outspoken lately about the judiciary and the provincial government’s inability to handpick who gets appointed to the bench.

Politicians should be loathe to appear to be trying to influence criminal prosecutions.

And police forces across Alberta, and Canada for that matter, have a specific role in the criminal justice system and that doesn’t include what charges are ultimately proceeded against any particular accused person, or what punishment they ultimately receive.

Fraser ultimately found the increased notoriety caused by the EPS letter was a factor he needed to consider in determining a fit sentence, knocking a year off what would have been a nine-year term but for the threat to release more information.

Following the ruling the service issued a statement saying it would review the sentencing “before taking any further action.”

They should have said: The case is done and we have no further comment.

KMartin@postmedia.com

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