Pubdate: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2007 The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Tu Thanh Ha Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) MAN GETS BAIL IN OFFICER'S DEATH Suspect may be first to be released while charged with murdering constable, lawyer says MONTREAL -- A Montreal businessman awaiting trial for the first-degree murder of a police officer has won bail after the court heard that the accused thought he was the victim of a home invasion when drug investigators burst into his house in a pre-dawn raid. In what is believed to be a Canadian first, Mr. Justice Jean-Guy Boilard of the Quebec Superior Court yesterday ordered the release on bail of Basil Parasiris, 41, saying that it would not affect the public trust in the justice system. The court had heard that within seconds, Mr. Parasiris fired four bullets from a legally registered 357-magnum while the police shot back 14 times, including 10 shots toward the bedroom of his 14-year-old son. Mr. Parasiris does not deny firing the fatal shots but says he was acting in self defence. In his decision, the judge noted that the five-officer team used a battering ram to burst into the suburban home where Mr. Parasiris, his wife and their two children were sleeping. It was an entry "without a knock notice," Judge Boilard said. "That type of search has been the object of frequent criticisms," he said, citing a string of court decisions dealing with the use of excessive force in carrying out a search warrant. The judge added that he didn't think "the Crown's evidence is beyond challenge." Mr. Parasiris exhaled heavily and his relatives burst into tears as they listened to Judge Boilard order his release under conditions that included posting a $200,000 bond, living with his father, surrendering his passport and obeying a curfew. The defence team said it had found no jurisprudence showing that someone charged with an offence as serious as murdering a peace officer had ever been released before while awaiting trial. "But the circumstances were really exceptional in this matter," defence lawyer Frank Pappas said "The accused is relieved. So is his family. Obviously it's not a time to rejoice since there was the death of a person," Mr. Pappas added. "Nobody is celebrating." Laval police Constable Daniel Tessier, a 42-year-old father of two, died during the raid that began around 5 a.m. on March 2. Constable Tessier was part of the team that stormed the Parasiris house in the Montreal suburb of Brossard, in a so-called "dynamic entry." The officers, who wore dark clothes, yelled "police" and climbed to the second floor. Constable Tessier was outside the master bedroom when the door swung open and Mr. Parasiris fired, hitting him in the jugular vein, the heart and a shoulder blade and wounding another constable. Mr. Parasiris was in such a panic that he soiled his underwear, the judge noted. The other officers fired back, wounding Mr. Parasiris' wife and mistakenly hitting Constable Tessier in a foot. Police seized four loaded handguns, 13 cellular phones, four pagers and $1,800 along with 0.3 grams of cocaine and 1.7 grams of marijuana on the night tables in the master bedroom. Mr. Parasiris has been charged with murder and attempted murder along with firearms offences. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake