|
August
27, 2004: Vellacott establishes defence fund for ex-cops
| also injusticebustersblog
| 2005: From Saskatoon
to LA, people are resisting police abuse | Two
more cops fired after Stonechild inquiry
Aug. 23/03:
They
have been released. | MP Maurice Vellacott stirs things
up
Saskatoon freezing
deaths
Two bad apples caught
thanks to Darrell Night
(early injusticebusters graphic))
March 13, 2003:
Hatchen
and Munson are now in prison. Their defence lawyers say they
will have a hard time because of conditions in prison. Maybe
that should be a signal to clean up the penal system to make
it safe for people who go to prison. These two cops got off lightly,
a slap on the knuckles for what they did. Nonetheless it is a
start. The Saskatoon Police continue to say this was an isolated
incident. Well, if you believe that, you're really whacked.--Sheila
Steele, injusticebusters.com
Read
all about Top Superintendant Brian George Dueck | Dueck
walks away with full pension even though he was found to
be malicious
Former Saskatoon cops
appeal conviction for leaving aboriginal man out in cold
CBC Mon, 20 Jan 2003
SASKATOON - A panel of judges
has reserved its decision in the appeal Monday of two former
Saskatoon police officers who were convicted of unlawful confinement.
Ken Munson and Dan Hatchen
were sentenced to eight months in jail in December 2001, after
driving an inebriated aboriginal man to the edge of the city
and abandoning him in freezing temperatures.
* FROM DEC. 7, 2001: Former
Saskatoon police officers sentenced to eight months
They went before the Saskatchewan
Court of Appeal seeking a new trial or, failing that, reduced
sentences.
"We believe we have grounds
for an appeal," said Morris Bodnar, their lawyer.
He argued that trial Judge
Eugene Scheibel failed to properly instruct the jury about the
powers of police officers. They acted legally when they drove
Daryl Night to the outskirts of the city.
Bodnar also argued that Scheibel
should have moved the trial out of the city so the officers could
have been tried by an impartial jury.
When he convicted them, Scheibel
said: "The accused demonstrated a flagrant disregard for
the life, safety and well-being of the complainant."
Munson and Hatchen have been
out on bail since they were convicted.
Their case was one of several
that led the Saskatchewan government to set up the Commission
on First Nations and Métis Peoples and Justice Reform
in 2001.
*FROM JAN. 17, 2003: Aboriginals
may be paid to investigate police
Last week, it recommended the
government pay for an aboriginal group to investigate complaints
against the police.
Written by CBC News Online
staff
No circle for Hatchen
and Munson
They were sentenced to eight
months and are now out on appeal bail
complete
text of Judge Scheibel's judgement denying the sentencing circle
Friday we'll know if they get
a square cell with bars. The Crown has asked for at least one
year jail time. The former officers have asked for noncustodial
intermittant time. (As of August 12, 2002, their paltry jail
sentence is still under appeal)
How about they be allowed to
serve their time in the community, intermittantly, as chauffers
and gofers for Darrell Night. They would be fitted with thermometer
ankle bracelets which would go off at -22º. Then they would
have to go to jail and all aboriginal people would be alerted
to stay off the streets if they had been drinking to be safe
from other power-happy cops we all know are still out there.
Coverage of the trial is here,
starting with the most recent reports.
Nov. 30,
2001: Judge Scheibel showed great patience
in court as he heard Roe and Bodnar argue that they would like
to proceed with a sentencing circle even though Darrell Night
wants nothing to do with it. Roe went so far as to argue for
exclusion of the media and Bodnar suggested Ex-Police Chief Dave
Scott would be a good candidate for a circle.
Their clients expressed remorse
for having disgraced the police service and, oh yes, for having
unlawfully confined Darrell Night, they said.
"Restorative Justice"
would seem to mean different things to different people. To Hatchen
and Munson, and their mouthpieces in court it would seem to mean
continuing to pretend that there is honour in the Saskatoon Police
Service and that giving these guys the benefit of a sentencing
circle would just fix everything up.
So far the cops have shown
no real contrition. Maybe prison psychologists could get to the
bottom of their twisted psyches but people who would serve on
a sentencing circle have much more productive ways to spend their
time.
It's hard to find an iota of
sympathy for these bullies whose inglorious days of pushing citizens
around have been brought to a halt.
Hatchen and Munson were found
guilty of unlawful confinement of Darrell Night. They came to
their sentencing at the end of October and asked to be sentenced
by a sentencing circle.
Was this a cynical bid for
more time or were they genuinely contrite and sorry for what
they had done?
The answer was clear two days
later at the Naistus inquest when Hatchen took the stand and
lied outright. He said he and his partner came forward out of
the goodness of their hearts when of course, the opposite is
true.
injusticebusters endorse Darrell Night's call for a
full public inquiry and support Vice-Chief Lawrence Joseph's
observation that all marginalized people in Saskatoon require
some accounting from the Saskatoon Police for actions of the
last three decades.
We are appalled
that Chief Jim Matthews would say this is an "isolated incident"
He has been here for less than three months. Either he is part
of the cover-up or he is naively accepting briefings from sources
who have a stake in the cover-up. Mayor Maddin's response is
also disappointing.
Superintendent
Dueck may be breathing a sigh of relief for now, but we would
point out that although the wheels of justice grind very slowly,
they are moving forward.
The Verdict: Guilty of unlawful confinement
but Not Guilty of assault!
Hatchen and Munsen: Saskatoon
Police trial for assault and kidnapping of Darrell Night
Shame, shame,shame!
Sep. 20, 2001: Twelve
Saskatchewan jurors brought back a decision which shows this
province is racist and brain-dead. They ignored the clear charge
of Judge Eugene Scheibel that if they found that Darrell Night
was not in the lawful custody of the police during any part of
his ride from the west end of the city to the field beyond the
Queen Elizabeth Power plant, that even a tap on the elbow during
any part of such unlawful confinement would be an assault.
They found Hatchen and Munson
guilty of the unlawful confinement but not guilty of assault.
They were possibly swayed by the suggestion that Night's civil
suit (which should not have been brought into the trial in the
first place) will be weakened and they don't want the province
to pay any damages to a drunken Indian.
Spokesmen for the police expressed
confusion. Now they are going to have to take anyone they arrest
to the police station said union prez, Al Stickney. Duh? But
if they rough him/her up along the way, pepper spray them, etc.,
well that's maybe going to still be allowed? Or if a "riot"
of young, jobless Natives loot Midtown Plaza (as the StarPhoenix
irresponsibly suggested might happen), well, the cops will just
have to stand by and watch, letting insurance claims mount for
failing businesses. "We couldn't drive them home and we
don't have room at the station," the cops will say. And
racial antipathy will rise another notch.
Violence against marginalized
Saskatonians goes on and has been going on for decades. The roughing
up is somewhat democratic -- all skin colours are nervous about
the violence-driven few who like to beat up on the vulnerable
-- but the pepper spraying and moonlight rides are pretty well
confined to Natives.
Sentencing is October 30. Roe
says he will ask for a suspended sentence. We hope that the teeny
bit of justice which has been shown by the guilty verdict will
be in keeping with the seriousness of the indictment: unlawful
confinement (kidnapping) carries a ten year maximum penalty and
these guys should get to spend a fair piece of that in prison.
The fear should be there that
since Hatchen and Munson conducted themselves in court as though
their only crime was getting caught and disgracing the police
in so doing: that in future they will "take no prisoners."
Naistus and Wegner didn't take them to court. They are dead.
The cross section of citizens
who expressed complacency with this decision may have cause to
be more concerned. When a Saskatoon cop says "Freeze,"
they bring new meaning to the word. They carry guns. Even their
dogs now have bullet-proof vests. And they have learned nothing
from this experience, except that they got off easy on trying
to kill Darrell Night and the other midnight taxi-drivers got
away with it.
As Darrell Night so eloquently
stated at his press conference after the verdict, a full public
inquiry must be held into the Saskatoon Police force before any
real justice will be seen in this dangerous town.
Darrell
Night's day in court
| Day Two of the most important police
trial in the country right now
Day Three: Sep. 13, 2001,
Saskatoon:
It's not looking good. On March
29, 2000, when the secret hearings
were held on Hatchen and Munsen, Crown Prosecutor Terry Hinz
assured the media that the trial would be public.
In the meantime several coats
of whitewash have been laid over the deaths of Rodney Naistus
and Lawrence Wegner, Rod Wailing's complaint has been found to
be "without merit" and the results of the Neil Stonechild
coroner's inquest, which was hard fought for and eventually the
body exhumed and sent to Alberta, are not yet in.
A publication order was placed
on today's proceedings. The ban is sweeping and includes anything
which went on inside the courtroom. Judge Scheibel said he would
call a mistrial if it was not obeyed. injusticebusters want very much for this trial to go forward.
Outside the courthouse the
Natives were restless. Despite the strong case presented against
the cops during the first two days of trial, we heard bitter
mistrust -- including credible testimonials about bad experiences
with members of the Saskatoon Police Service and receiving the
run-around when they attempted to complain.
We are working on getting these
stories ready for the internet.
Media from across the country
were present, hanging on every word Bodnar or Roe would offer
them. Their case panders to racism (counting on the jury being
a cross-section of Saskatoon) and turns truth on its head by
setting out to prove that Darrell Night is racist against whites.
One of the lessons of the American
civil rights movement was that there is a huge difference between
systemic racism and the powerless rantings of members of a racial
minority.
Where was Perry Bellegarde?
Where was Lawrence Joseph? Perhaps the media are waiting for
them. We would all like to know what they have to say.
Day Two of the most important
police trial in the country right now
Sep.12,
2001, SASKATOON: This
morning the jury heard clear testimony from the taxi driver and
the Sask Power worker which corroborated Darrell Night's allegation
that he was where he said he was before dawn on the cold January
morning. They also confirmed that he was dressed inadequately
for the weather conditions,
Superintendent
Weber confirmed that he had taken confession statements from
Hatchen and Munsen after being ordered to do so by Chief Dave
Scott and Ass't Chief Dan Wiks. Sgt. Dennis Elias testified he
had checked out Night's story and an RCMP officer testified that
they had got a warrant and seized the constable's notebooks.
Another RCMP officer testified that Night's name had not been
entered ito the CPIC.
The confessions
themselves were those of children who have been caught with their
hands in the cookie jar with all the attendant whining and sorries
and promises never to do it again, replete with upset stomachs
and sleepless nights. Weber had tears in his eyes at the end
of the reading.
Each of the
confessions, obtained separately, says that Night pleaded with
them to "drop him off anywhere" and then "we just
looked at each other" and drove out to Leisureland.
Chilling. These
damn cops have done this before! And how many others in the force
have done so also: routinely, cold-bloodedly. Somebody left Lawrence
Wegner and Rodney Naistus out there to die. Maybe these guys,
maybe different ones.
Five of them,
including union prez Al Stickney sat in the front row, directly
behind the accused dock, providing a physical blue wall as they
watched their buddies getting nailed for something that everybody
used to think was all right. Like the good-old boys of the KKK
feeling nostalgiac for the days of lynching. Well, fellas, it's
over.
Racism will
die hard. This case and the Ramsay case are a beginning of bringing
to account those who drive drunk Native men to the outskirts
of town or expect all Native females to provide them with sexual
favours.
It's over.
At least, we
hope it is over. It is up to the Crown to convince the jury that
these guys must be found guilty on both counts and then it is
up to the Judge to sentence them to the limit provided by law.
Not because
Dan Hatchen and Ken Munsen are any worse than any other cops
who have done the same thing. They just get to be the example.
Darrell Night's day in
court
Sep. 11,
2001, SASKATOON:
Queen's Bench Courtroom number
1 was packed this morning to hear the opening of the Crown's
case against officers Ken
Munson and Dan Hatchen, charged with assault and unlawful confinement
against Darrell Night after having driven him to the outskirts
of the city in -25 degree weather Jan. 28, 2000.
Crown prosecutor Bill Berge
led Night through the story he has fought so hard to tell. After
a party had degenerated into fights on the night in question,
Night had left the apartment building on 20th St. in Saskatoon's
west end perhaps to walk the two blocks to his sister's place
and crash. He was not drunk but he had drunk enough to know that
his sister, to whom he had just made a promise to quit drinking,
would be upset with him. As he testified later that day, he would
rather spend a night on the cement floor of a police dry-out
cell than face her with his broken promise. As he hit the street,
a cruiser arrived. Night told them they should get upstairs and
stop the fight and gave them the finger. Next thing he knew he
was thrown over the trunk of the car, tightly handcuffed and
thrown in the back.
He became nervous when the
car turned south on Avenue H instead of proceeding to the police
station and mentioned the name of a senior officer he knew to
be a decent cop, Marv Hanson. His kidnappers were not impressed
and proceeded out of town, stopping near Leisureland, manhandled
him and left him there. Their words as they ejected him from
the cruiser were "Get out you fuckin' Indian." As they
drove away, Night took note of the number on the cruiser: 57.
The facts of this case are
not in doubt. Hatchen and Munson admitted to picking Night up
and to dropping him out of town. Defense lawyers Morris Bodner
and Bill Roe attacked Night's character under guise of damaging
his credibility. Night had no difficulty admitting to his petty-criminal
past and his problems with alcohol. This left the lawyers with
no strategy but to repeat themselves, either hoping to impress
the seven-man, five-woman jury or to show the cops they were
hired to defend that they were worth all that money. They had
no case. How can anybody justify that driving a person to an
almost certain death (if Night had been drunker he would surely
be dead) is a good response to being sworn at and shown "the
finger?" No matter how long Night's "criminal"
record is (and Bodner read out every line of it, mostly breaches
and failures to appear) that does not entitle the cops to turn
him into a frozen corpse.
Night showed grace under pressure
and a good sense of humour when he was allowed to express it.
His reasons for pushing for the laying of charges were clear:
when he heard that a frozen dead man, later identified as Lawrence
Wegner had been found in almost the same location where he had
been dropped, he decided to come forward. In the course of his
attempt to do so, he was fortunate enough to run into a second
decent cop, Sgt. Elias, who believed his story.
Many of us -- including the
entire Native community -- were outraged that Hatchen and Munson
were charged so lightly. At the same time, we are grateful that
they have been charged at all, since this seems to be the only
possible way to stop the practice of leaving Native drunks to
freeze, a practice which we all know has been going on for decades.
It is a beginning, just as the early freedom rides in Mississippi
were a beginning to the long process of stopping the practice
of lynching blacks.
Racial tension in this town
is thick and occasionally loud. A group of Natives who were in
the court room today mistook our laughter during a break (we
were laughing at the lameness of the defense strategies) for
laughter at Night and threatened to kill one of us. By and large,
Night's supporters outnumbered the cop supporters, once you got
past the colour barrier and if you assumed the media row was
neutral.
The real colour barrier that
took some crippling blows today was the Blue Wall of cop solidarity.
At the beginning of the day, we heard versions of the phrase
"Darrell Night has a vivid imagination" ringing hollow
as their continued insistence that David Milgaard killed Gail
Miller after Larry Fisher raped her. As the day went on it was
clear that Night was not claiming all cops did hosted moonlight
rides. Throughout his lengthy involvement with police he said
he had never before been beaten. He acknowledged Marv Hanson
and Sgt. Elias were two cops who had treated him well. He may,
indeed have a vivid imagination but the story he told today is
substantiated by the evidence. Police union chief Al Stickney,
who had in interviews earlier this week said he just wanted to
see justice served got to see it in action.
Judge Eugene Scheibel ran a
fair courtroom. He intervened on Night's behalf several times
when Berge was failing to protect his witness's interest. We
could not help but wonder, from Berge's tepid presentation of
the case if his heart was really in it. We hope that the events
of today will stir the justice part of him to break free from
the Saskatchewan cover-up network. The jury has also been chosen
from a pool of people confused by systemic racism and it is up
to the Crown to persuade them of the justice of these indictments.
We trust Judge Scheibel will instruct the jury well.
Then it will be up to them.
complete
text of Judge Scheibel's judgement
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
