Prosecutors dropped 19 drug and weapons charges against a Yukon man after a judge ruled that much of the evidence was inadmissible in court, citing the “deep failure” of RCMP staff to respect Charter’s rights.
Failures include searching the man’s house without a warrant, handcuffing him for unreasonable time and failing to notify him in time of his right to a lawyer.
Crown lawyer Noel Sinclair dropped the case – essentially when the crown decided to end the prosecution – against Jonathan Bagley on Thursday.
The move came about three months after District Court Judge Karen Rudy, following a statement from Baglee, ruled that RCMP officers had overreacted to the situation and all evidence gathered during the search without a warrant, including firearms, cocaine and lips. statements cannot be used in court.
Baglee was arrested on July 30, 2019, after RCMP officers assisting in the nationwide search for two teenagers wanted for murder in northern British Columbia heard the sound of gunshots in the distance.
According to Ruddy’s decision, the BC RCMP has received information that the teenagers were spotted at a motorway rest stop near Jake’s Corner, approximately 80 kilometers southeast of Whitehorse.
Yukon RCMP Const. Joseph Miller and Capt. Cameron Long was inspecting the area when he heard three shots, followed by five to six more, and decided to investigate.
Officers followed the sound to Bagley’s home, about three kilometers down the Alaska Highway, where they noticed bullet casings on the ground. Baglee’s partner and then Baglee left the house and told police she fired a .22-caliber rifle, which officers said they did not believe based on the shell casings.
During the interaction, Baglee’s partner said she may have fired a .308 caliber rifle and that there was a rifle in the house; Bagley also admitted that he was under a court order at the time forbidding him from owning a firearm.
Police arrested and handcuffed Bagley, and Long decided to “clear the house” by entering Bagley’s home without a warrant and conducting a “tactical patrol”, according to Rudy’s decision.
Bagley also admitted to having cocaine in his garage, which officers searched again without a warrant.
Police later received a search warrant for Bagley’s property, but not before finding three firearms. They found six additional firearms, along with firearms accessories and drug paraphernalia, during the search.
The unrelated search influenced the reaction of the police
In his ruling, Rudy found that Long and Miller had been wrongfully influenced by the nationwide persecution. She said the couple allowed the unrelated search for teenagers to influence their approach to what would otherwise be a secular situation – the sound of gunshots in rural Yukon near the hunting season.
Although there are situations in which police officers may be justified in entering a home without a warrant – answering a 911 call, or when there is evidence of someone in immediate distress, for example – Baglee’s case is not one of them, said Rudy.
Rudy also ruled that there was no reason for Bagley to be detained for more than a few minutes, noting that he had cooperated, was not an immediate threat and, in addition to the initial fraud for the .22 rifle, was “honest to the point of error.” “However, he was detained for more than an hour during which police asked him questions and was not informed of his right to seek legal advice until he was brought to Whitehorse.
Rudy also noted that Long and Miller, when they took the witness stand during the hearing of the Baglee Charter application, were “defensive” or “unresponsive” when asked why they decided to investigate the sound of gunshots and the approach. to the investigation. Long, for example, insisted that the second shot he heard must have come from an illegal firearm, although he was unsure of the actual number of shots fired, while Miller said he feared being first in the line of fire while driving to Bagley’s house, although there is no evidence that he will be shot.
Their testimonies also differ from those of others – Long testified that he and Miller wore a bulletproof vest while still on vacation, for example, while Miller said he had no armor that day.
Rudy ruled that Miller and Long’s actions violated Baglee’s rights, sections 8, 9 and 10 (b) of the Charter – the right to unreasonable search, the right to be free from arbitrary detention and the right to be able to obtain legal advice.
The violations were “neither transient nor trivial,” Rudy continued, but a “deep omission” in compliance with the Charter; the unjustified search saw police passing every room in Bagley’s house, and the drugs and weapons found were crucial to Crown’s case.
“A very long and painful process”
Baglee’s lawyer, Vincent LaRochel, said in an interview after Crown dropped the charges against Baglee that his client was “certainly very happy … that the whole trial is over”.
“Obviously it was a very long and painful process for him,” Laroschel said.
He added that Rudy’s decision and the postponement of accusations by the Crown justified not only Bagley’s rights, but also the rights of Yukoners in general.
“It seems to be quite common in the Yukon for police officers to carry out illegal searches of homes, people or their vehicles,” La Rochelle said.
“What we need to understand is that only when the police violate the Charter and find something illegal, they go to court … (Judges) do not see the moments when the police violate the rights of people on the Charter and nothing happens and does not happen charges have been filed. “
About 90 items seized by police from Bagley’s house, including various firearms, ammunition, cash and counterfeit grenades, will be returned to him, while 18 items, including a Beretta 92 pistol, .9mm pistol and cocaine, will be confiscated. .
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