National legal groups are raising the alarm about an Edmonton Police Service decision to publicly oppose a plea agreement for a homicide case in the middle of the court process.
Lawyers who spoke to CBC News said it’s an unprecedented step that risks undermining trust in the justice system and blurring the independent roles of police and prosecutors.
Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) criminal justice program director Shakir Rahim said the letter drew immediate concern.
“It is clearly against the Charter, and outside of the role of the police, to make a statement like this,” he said.
“We do not live in a country where the police get to decide who is guilty and what should happen to them.”
EPS released a letter last week — the day before the woman accused in the case was due in court — decrying the Crown’s acceptance of a manslaughter plea instead of proceeding to a murder trial in the death of an eight-year-old girl.
The letter, sent by interim chief Warren Driechel and signed by EPS lawyer Megan Hankewich, asks Alberta assistant deputy minister of justice Kimberley Goddard to intervene and act to abandon the plea deal.
It also referenced an agreement for an eight-year sentence in the case, but in court last Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Terry Hofmann said there’s no joint submission on the length of the woman’s sentence.
Hankewich spoke more about the issue at a news conference after the manslaughter plea was accepted by a judge last Wednesday.
She said the letter is the culmination of years of frustration over EPS efforts to communicate concerns over criminal cases with Crown prosecutors.
“When our system fails — and to be clear, we believe it has failed today — that, too, should be done in full view of our community,” Hankewich said.
Her letter says if the plea and sentencing go ahead, EPS plans to release “significant information” from the investigation to the public so it can assess it “and advocate in the public forum for a stronger prosecution service.”
The Edmonton Police Service is asking for provincial intervention over a deal that saw a woman plead guilty to manslaughter in a child homicide case. The police say the deal is a ‘significant miscarriage of justice.’
Prosecutorial independence is considered a cornerstone of the criminal justice system. That means the Crown has to be able to assess cases and make decisions without external interference, Rahim said.
“I think it’s important, when there’s a case as clear as this, where the conduct was so outside of the norms of what the police ought to be doing, that we take a very firm stand and say, ‘This is not allowed.'”
After the EPS letter became public last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she was glad to see it.
“People are tired of seeing a lax on crime kind of approach,” she said during an unrelated news conference last Wednesday.
“People want to see that people are going to be punished to the maximum capable under the law, and sometimes that can only happen with a trial. So I look forward to hearing the Crown Prosecution Service justify, publicly, their reasons.”
Asked whether Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery supports the premier’s position, his press secretary told CBC News on Monday, “Alberta’s government respects the prosecutorial independence of the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS).”
‘Bringing that disagreement into the public eye’
Edmonton defence lawyer Deborah Hatch, an Alberta director with the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers, said the EPS comments shocked the legal community.
“To see a premier stepping in to endorse this is really also shocking,” she said.
Hatch said police aren’t necessarily aware of all the information prosecutors are looking at when they make decisions about a case.
She believes EPS leadership, and those speaking for EPS on the issue, should apologize for “creating a misunderstanding” among the public about how the system is supposed to work.
“The independence of the courts, the independence of the police and the independence of the prosecution — all of those things have to be respected for the system to function properly,” Hatch said.
“The police know that. And if they don’t know that, then we’ve got a real problem. And if they do know that and they’re speaking as they are, then we’ve also got a problem.”
Another national coalition of lawyers, Women in Canadian Criminal Defence, also issued a statement last week in support of Crown prosecutors’ independence, saying it’s “dangerous and unconstitutional for a police service to lose sight of the respective roles of the Crown and police in the legal system.”
With sentencing in the case at the centre of the police commentary still coming up, and two men set to go to trial for indignity to a body and accessory to murder, ACPS has refused comment to avoid potentially prejudicing an accused’s right to a fair trial.
Breena Smith, president of the Alberta Crown Attorneys’ Association, also told CBC News she won’t comment while the case is ongoing.
Chris Samuel, a former federal prosecutor and president of the Alberta branch of the Canadian Bar Association, said it’s not unusual for police and prosecutors to disagree.
“But what’s really concerning and different about this situation is bringing that disagreement into the public eye like this,” he said.
Samuel said it’s understandable for people to express their views and emotions on tragic cases like this one, but the courts are set up with clear checks and balances for a reason.
“The justice system overall needs to have integrity and it needs to be respected by the public. And when that trust and respect is eroded, I think it can lead to some really negative outcomes, so that’s maybe that’s the concern I have in this case.”
