Pubdate: Tue, 23 Dec 2003
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Petti Fong, Vancouver Sun

CROWN DROPS CHARGES HINGING ON VPD TESTIMONY

Officers Guilty of Stanley Park Assault Were to Testify at Drug Possession 
Trial

VANCOUVER - The federal Crown has stayed five drug possession charges that 
depended on testimony from the six Vancouver police officers who pleaded 
guilty last month to assaulting three men.

The officers were supposed to testify about the circumstances of the 
arrests, but the possession charges are now on hold, according to a 
spokeswoman for the department of justice.

Lyse Cantin, director of communications for the department, said Monday the 
charges were for simple possession and could be reactivated.

The six constables pleaded guilty last month to charges of assaulting three 
men near Third Beach in Stanley Park.

The officers picked up Barry Lawrie, 34, Jason Desjardins, 28, and Grant 
Wilson, 37, in the 1100-block of Granville and took them to the park to 
give them what the constables' lawyers described in court as a lecture that 
got carried away.

Under current police policy, officers can transport suspects to another 
area of the city in lieu of making an arrest for minor disturbances.

The provincial Crown counsel's office is considering whether to stay any 
charges the officers were involved in on a case-by-case basis, said Geoff 
Gaul, a spokesman for the attorney-general's office.

"There is no global direction or general direction from the criminal 
justice branch that requires that all cases involving these officers be 
stayed," Gaul said Monday. "We have an ongoing obligation to assess the 
evidence we have for any particular case and determine what evidence we are 
going to call at trial and what evidence we won't call."

The assaults came to light last January when police Chief Jamie Graham 
announced the officers were under internal investigation. The constables 
involved are Christopher Cronmiller, 31, Raymond Gardner, 31, Duncan 
Gemmell, 38, Gabriel Kojima, 24, James Kenney, 33, and Brandon Steele, 30. 
All have been suspended with pay since the incident.

An internal disciplinary hearing to determine their future as police 
officers will be held in January.

Their sentencing date is set for Jan. 5. A civil suit has also been 
launched by the three victims.

Constable Sarah Bloor, the department's spokeswoman, said Monday she had no 
comment on the staying of the drug charges since the internal disciplinary 
hearing and sentencing are still pending.

Lawyer Phil Rankin, who is representing the victims in the assault, said it 
isn't worth the time and money to pursue the possession charges.

"I don't lose sleep from a law and order point of view about these charges 
being stayed," he said. "I would be very surprised if they had gone ahead 
with these charges after these guilty pleas were entered. It would have 
opened up a whole credibility shark fest."
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