Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2012
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2012 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Mike McIntyre

CITY OFFICERS CLEARED OF FABRICATION

Not Guilty in Botched Drug Case

Two Winnipeg police officers have been cleared of fabricating 
evidence in a botched drug investigation where the key witness 
against them was a well-respected Crown attorney.

Const. Graeme Beattie, 33, and Const. Paul Clark, 44, were found not 
guilty Wednesday of obstruction-of-justice charges in a career-saving 
decision. Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal admitted there are 
still plenty of questions about what truly occurred, but said he must 
give the pair the benefit of the doubt.

"Simply put, I am unable to conclude that the Crown has established 
beyond a reasonable doubt that Consts. Beattie and Clark knowingly 
prepared false notes and false police reports," Joyal wrote in a 
68-page decision.

Crown attorney Erin Magas testified she had to drop charges of 
trafficking and proceeds of crime against a 20-year-old man after she 
learned Beattie and Clark had fabricated evidence. The revelation 
came during a meeting with the officers just as they were to testify 
at a preliminary hearing in October 2008.

Beattie and Clark initially said they were on patrol when they saw 
four men fighting in the backyard of a Redwood Avenue home, court was 
told. They said they got out of their cruiser to stop the melee, and 
the men scattered. They said one ran into the house and dropped a 
bag, which they picked up and found to be filled with cocaine. They 
followed him inside -- without a warrant -- and found him with more 
cocaine and some cash and arrested him, they said.

But Magas told court that story changed drastically when Beattie and 
Clark requested a private meeting with her and asked whether she knew 
if a videotape of the incident existed.

"They told me there was no fight; they saw four known drug dealers 
sitting on lawn chairs," Magas testified. Beattie told her they got 
out of the vehicle to speak with the men, who fled. One of them ran 
into the home and dropped a bag -- but they didn't pick it up to 
check the contents until after they had gone into the home, spotted 
the accused with drugs and arrested him, Magas recounted.

Beattie insists he picked the drugs up before entering the home, a 
fact reflected in his notes. But he told court that a few days before 
the preliminary hearing, Clark pointed out his separate notes claimed 
Beattie picked up the bag of drugs only when he left the house having 
already made the arrest.

Special prosecutor Robert Tapper argued some elements of what the two 
officers said after the incident were "absurd." He said notes Beattie 
made about what transpired during the arrest and seizure were "nonsense."

Beattie admitted on the witness stand he didn't protest when Magas 
accused him of botching the drug investigation and warned he could 
face serious legal consequences. But he said his silence shouldn't be 
taken as a sign of misconduct. Under intense cross-examination, 
Beattie repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and suggested he and his 
partner are the victims of a terrible misunderstanding. He said the 
only thing he is guilty of is not properly explaining himself at the 
time the incident came up.

Defence lawyers accused Magas of having a poor memory of what the 
officers told her, being confused about the exact circumstances of 
the arrest and even "intimidating" the two accused. Magas insisted 
she had no doubt about what the police officers admitted to, which 
she recorded the same day in a memo that was forwarded to her 
supervisor and that, ultimately, led to charges against Beattie and Clark.
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