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Kenora
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cop who killed Jeff Berg cleared | RCMP
who framed Jason Dix promoted
Michael Ferguson
Dead prisoner's
family plans fight against ruling
Michelle Lang, CanWest News
Service, December 13, 2004
PINCHER CREEK, Alta. -- The
family of a prisoner killed by a Mountie wants the Crown to appeal
a ruling that saw the ex-cop avoid jail time, even if it means
taking the case to Canada's highest court.
Connie Varley, the victim's
sister-in-law, vowed Saturday to overturn the sentence, while
supporters of one-time RCMP officer Mike Ferguson say an appeal
will only deepen the divide in the town where it all began.
"If it takes going to
the Supreme Court to get this decision reversed, we will,"
says Varley, the victim's sister-in-law. "We are not finished
fighting."
Ferguson, convicted of manslaughter
in the 1999 death of Darren Varley, won a rare constitutional
exemption from a mandatory four-year prison term Friday.
The Crown prosecutor in the
case has said more time is needed to reflect on whether to appeal
the sentence. Ferguson's defence lawyer said he wouldn't be surprised
by a legal challenge.
As news of the ruling sunk
in Saturday, emotions were raw and volatile in Pincher Creek,
where a jail cell struggle between Ferguson and Varley led to
the truck driver's death. Standing over the grave of her brother-in-law,
Connie Varley rubbed a photo of the 26-year-old that is etched
into his tombstone. "I feel like we've let him down,"
she says, shivering in the wind at the cemetery on the edge of
this southern Alberta town.
Indeed, five years after Varley's
death, feelings around the controversial case are as fresh as
ever. The streets of Pincher Creek were quiet Saturday morning,
but the talk inside the businesses that line the town's main
drag was all about the ruling. Ferguson's friends, including
many members of the local Baptist church he once attended, were
elated by the sentence. "We're thrilled he doesn't have
to go to jail," says Jane Schauerte, who lived next door
to Ferguson.
Others, however, were deeply
upset by the sentence and the fact that Ferguson is now back
at his Kamloops, B.C., home after serving two months in jail.
"It's a total miscarriage of justice," says George
Hudson, who was having a coffee and a cigarette at a local restaurant.
Residents of Pincher Creek
say they have had more than their fair share of dealing with
the courts after watching Ferguson's three trials over five years.
His first two trials on a charge of second degree murder ended
in hung juries before he was convicted of manslaughter this fall.
Several residents of Pincher Creek said the Varley case has changed
their town, leaving locals suspicious of the police and the legal
system.
For supporters of Ferguson,
however, justice was served in the ruling.
Stephen Reynolds, pastor of
First Baptist Church, called the decision "good" and
"fair." "The legal system worked well in this
case," he said.
During Friday's hearing, Justice
Ged Hawco said he exempted Ferguson from jail time on the grounds
that imprisoning him was cruel and unusual punishment, a Charter
of Rights violation. The ruling is based on the fact that Ferguson
had to spend 23 hours a day in his cell while in prison so that
he was protected from the rest of the jail population, who might
have killed him. Hawco also ruled Ferguson had to carry a firearm
as part of his job and that Varley initiated the jail cell scuffle,
grabbing the Mountie's gun.
Varley's family adamantly denies
the young man touched the weapon, saying forensic evidence never
proved he grabbed it in the fight. They add he knew nothing about
guns.
(CALGARY HERALD)
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2004
Ex-Mountie sentenced to house arrest
Canadian Press Dec 11, 2004
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. -- A former
RCMP officer convicted of killing a drunken prisoner who had
grabbed his gun was sentenced yesterday to house arrest for two
years less a day.
Mike Ferguson had been through
two second-degree-murder trials that ended in hung juries before
a third jury found him guilty of manslaughter in October. He
voluntarily went to jail while he awaited his sentence.
But Mr. Justice Ged Hawco of
Alberta's Court of Queen's Bench agreed with a constitutional
challenge mounted by Mr. Ferguson's lawyer and ruled yesterday
that he should serve no more time behind bars.
Defence lawyer Earl Wilson
had argued that the Criminal Code provision for a minimum four-year
sentence for manslaughter with a firearm should not apply to
a police officer, who has to use a gun for his job.
Mr. Ferguson was also ordered
to do 500 hours of community service and attend counselling.
He was prohibited from using or possessing a firearm.
He was serving as a constable
in the southern Alberta town of Pincher Creek when he arrested
Darren Varley, a 26-year-old truck driver, for public drunkenness
in October, 1999. He said he was acting in self-defence when
he shot Mr. Varley in the head and the abdomen during a jail-cell
struggle.
Mr. Ferguson's lawyer had argued
that a jail term would amount to cruel and unusual punishment
since Mr. Ferguson would have to do his time in protective custody,
which amounts to solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.
"He's a cop and he's a
cop who killed a prisoner," Mr. Wilson said during sentencing
arguments. "His life is always in danger. Some of these
fellows don't need anything even remotely close before they are
prepared to cause significant harm to other prisoners."
Mr. Wilson also noted that,
as a police officer, Mr. Ferguson was duty-bound to carry a weapon
as opposed to someone who picks up a gun to commit a crime.
Crown prosecutor Rick Saull
countered that the shooting was deliberate and Mr. Ferguson deserved
to be treated no differently than anyone else.
He had asked Judge Hawco for
a sentence of more than six years in prison.
"It's not in the public
interest to have that person sentenced to something significantly
less than any one of you would be sentenced to had you done that,"
Mr. Saull said in sentencing arguments.
"This is not manslaughter
through criminal negligence. This is manslaughter of a deliberate
act. The unlawful act of manslaughter should attract higher penalties."
Mr. Varley's friends testified
that a group of them ended up in hospital after a night of drinking
and a scuffle.
RCMP officer guilty of manslaughter
Canadian Press
Friday, October 01, 2004
Lethbridge, Alta - An Alberta
RCMP officer whose two previous trials ended in hung juries was
convicted yesterday of manslaughter for shooting a prisoner.
Constable Mike Ferguson had
been charged with second-degree murder, but the Court of Queen's
Bench jury rejected that.
The full text of this article
has 557 words.
Convicted Mountie taken
into custody
By Dawn Walton, October
2, 2004,
Calgary -- Veteran RCMP officer
Michael Ferguson, who was convicted this week of manslaughter
for the shooting death of a prisoner in a southern Alberta holding
cell, was ordered into custody yesterday while he awaits sentencing
next month.
The full text of this article
has 122 words.
Ya, the Globe and Mail now
sells articles for $4.75 a pop.
Mountie`s trial ends
with hung jury
May 16th, 2003
(CP ) A deafening silence filled
the courtroom when a jury member told a judge Thursday that a
verdict could not be reached on whether a veteran RCMP officer
had murdered a prisoner in a jail cell struggle in a southwestern
Alberta town.
Sobs were then blurted out
by court spectators who had sat through the trial of RCMP Constable
Michael Ferguson not once, but twice.
Both ended with hung juries
when they could not come to a unanimous decision in the second-degree
murder trial of the 19-year Mountie.
Constable Ferguson, 48, shot
Darren John Varley on Oct. 3, 1999, in the head and in the stomach
at the RCMP detachment in Pincher Creek. He had arrested Mr.
Varley for public drunkenness and the 26-year-old truck driver
died several hours later in a Calgary hospital.
After the six-man, six-woman
jury filed out of court, Constable Ferguson held onto the prisoner's
dock and hung his head while his wife cried into her sister's
shoulder.
Connie Varley sobbed for her
dead brother-in-law. Jack Varley said he couldn't believe that
there was yet another hung jury 18 months after the last trial.
"It's devastating, it
makes no sense at all," Mr. Varley said. "I wonder
what it takes for a conviction to be made."
After three days of deliberations,
Justice Paul Belzil thanked the jury, who took copious notes
throughout the trial.
"On behalf of all participants
in this trial, we appreciate this has been an extremely difficult
and trying time for all of you," the judge said before dismissing
the jury.
The Crown will decide next
month whether to recharge Constable Ferguson or drop the charges.
During the trial, the Crown
had argued that the Mountie fired his gun in a fit of rage, while
Constable Ferguson's lawyer said the officer acted in self-defence
after the prisoner grabbed his pistol.
Court heard the pair had two
scuffles within a half-hour - one in the foyer of the town's
hospital and the other in the jail cell while Constable Ferguson
was detaining Mr. Varley for being drunk in a public place.
The Mountie testified that
an extremely drunk Mr. Varley grabbed his gun from its holster
in the detachment's jail cell.
When the trial started three
weeks ago, the judge told the jury that it must decide whether
Constable Ferguson had pulled the trigger in self-defence.
Since his arrest Constable
Ferguson has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the
trial. A psychologist testified that he still suffers with post-
traumatic stress from the shooting.
As part of his release conditions,
Constable Ferguson was ordered to leave Pincher Creek. He moved
to Kamloops, B.C., about six months after the shooting. Before
his Pincher Creek posting, he worked with the RCMP in Lethbridge
and Peace River.
It's extremely rare for a police
officer to be charged with murder, and even more so for an officer
to be convicted, particularly when the death happened in the
line of duty.
Ferguson jury begins
deliberations
CALGARY.CBC.CA, May 13 2003
Lethbridge -The fate of a veteran
RCMP officer is in the hands of a jury that was told Tuesday
it must decide whether Const. Michael Ferguson intended to kill
a prisoner or acted in self-defence.
Ferguson is charged with second-degree murder in the death of
Darren Varley, 26. The incident happened Oct. 3, 1999, while
Varley was in the Pincher Creek detachment's holding cell, after
having been arrested for being drunk in a public place.
Const. Michael Ferguson
Varley was shot twice, in the stomach and in the head.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice
Paul Belzil told the jury that shooting someone in the head is
inherently dangerous, but that it is their job to determine what
Ferguson's intent was.
If they agree that Ferguson
meant to kill Varley, Belzil said, they should convict him of
second-degree murder. If they have doubt about his intentions,
they can find him guilty of manslaughter, the judge said.
Belzil said if the six women
and six men on the jury believe Ferguson acted out of self-defence
and was justified in killing Varley, then no crime was committed.
The jury began its deliberations at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Darren Varley
In their closing arguments, the Crown and defence lawyer Earl
Wilson painted different scenarios of what happened that night.
"He was in the agony of
a struggle to save his own life," Wilson said, arguing for
self defence. "You now hold his future. You now hold his
fate."
Crown attorney Rick Saull argued
that Ferguson, now 48, shot an intoxicated Varley out of rage.
"This was a shooting caused
by anger and loss of control. I suggest the accused trapped Darren
Varley and killed him," he said.
Ferguson, who was suspended
after being charged, testified that Varley grabbed for his holstered
gun. The officer, who had been with the force for 19 years, said
Varley his vest over his head, which momentarily prevented Ferguson
from seeing anything. He said Varley then managed to release
his gun from the holster and while the two struggled with it,
a shot rang out.
Police officers testifying
for the Crown told the court that RCMP holsters are designed
to prevent the gun being removed by anyone other than the officer.
A defence police witness said it is possible for an officer to
have his gun taken.
The Crown said there wasn't
any evidence that Varley touched the officer's 9-mm pistol.
This is Ferguson's second trial
on the charges. The first ended in November, 2001 with a hung
jury, after 30 hours of deliberation.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
