Who Killed Theresa?: 12/01/2004

Friday, December 31, 2004

Folks, if you need help, advice, guidance etc... I urge you to seek out good people and keep them in your council. Here are some of the good ones I've met this year who have helped (so many others):

1. Dr. John Butt, medical examiner, crash of Swiss Air 111

I heard Dr. John Butt speak powerfully in Vancouver on mass casualties and victims' trauma. I believe him when he says the only real victims are the dead and the physically injured. For the rest, the slow process of victimization begins after the traumatic event, and is preventable.

2. Dawn Kelly, Vancouver advocate, formerly with B.C. Police Victim Services

I met Dawn Kelly in Ottawa in November 2003. She is the person who invited me to participate in CAVA. Dawn gave me a focus and put me to work. Thanks Dawn.

3. Holly Desimone, rape survivor, grassroots advocate

Holly lives in Western Canada. I like Holly's advice to all of us who work with victims:

“be gentle to those who have been hurt and be kind to ourselves.”

Holly's also the first rape victim I have met who didn't make me feel stupid for not understanding what it's like to be raped. That's not as easy as it sounds, but she did it in a very fundamental way; she made it clear that our two experiences are different, but that we could work together and help each other by sharing information. Quite a trick.

4. Liz Quinlan, advocate

After her daughter was raped at the University of Saskatchewan, Liz started the Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CASA).

5. Linden & Judy Peterson, parents of Lindsey Nicholls, missing since August 1993.

I met the Petersons in British Columbia. They are advocating for the creation of Lindsey's Law to create a National Missing Persons DNA Databank. I really love their website; it's sleek and to-the-point.

6. Darlene Rempel, MOVA

We haven't talked much on this site about the Manitoba Organization for Victim Advocates, but we should. Nevermind that Manitoba is the only province with a functioning victims' bill of rights, or that their Minister of Justice, Gord Mackintosh is the envy of victims from all other provinces; the person that keeps all of this moving with a slow, willed determination is Darlene Rempel who started MOVA after the murder of her son.

7. Priscilla de Villiers - advocate, Toronto

Let me tell you a story about Priscilla. When I attended (in protest) the Policy Centre's - Justice Canada's - conference on "lessons learned from victims of crime", I was having a hard time finding a friendly port in this bureaucratic storm. I asked a friend (Senator Landon Godfrey, to be precise - I move in privileged circles) to guide me. She said, "see Priscilla de Villiers". So I approached Priscilla and, for the first time, I wasn't treated as persona-non-grata. Priscilla took me in and explained to me the ground rules of victim advocacy in Canada. She is a kind and loving person, generous with her time and knowledge, always willing to guide and explain the labyrinth of Canadian victims issues. And it is a shame that her pioneer efforts in CAVEAT are now dissolved, and that her continued work in victims advocacy through the Ontario Office for Victims of Crime are also defunct. My hope for the new year is that Priscilla finds renewed energy in CAVA and will continue her mission. We need her.

8. Steve Sullivan, Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime

Ya, ya, ya... Steve's a lawyer and most of his job involves lobbying for legislative reform in Ottawa - someone has to do it. Steve's website at CRCVC is a great resource. I have met so many victims who, when I ask them, who was the first person that helped you in your cause, they say: Steve Sullivan.

9. Irwin Waller, Professor of criminology, University of Ottawa

Waller is the father of modern victimology in Canada (he worked in the Trudeau government for god's sake!). Waller has a simple (yet daunting) blueprint for the future of victims' rights in Canada. It goes something like this:

a. Legislate the creation of a fully funded federal office of victims of crime (like they have in the States).

b. Attach to it a permanent advisory committee.

c. Create an institute for unified policing programs.

d. After a, b, and c; make the priority victim reform (let's get a working bill of rights like they have in Europe).

e. Champion prevention, that is... Reduce the number of victims.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

8. Pierre Hugues Boisvenu - Advocate, Quebec

Do I really have to mention again my profound admiration for Pierre Boisvenu? His new organization, L'association des familles de personnes assassinées ou disparues now has its website up and running: www.afpad.ca

9. Arlene Gaudreault, Directrice, L'Association quebecoise Plaidoyer-Victimes

Yes it's true that I knocked the Plaidoyer earlier in the year for being an empty organization. But I did this in part because I was ignorant (I have to stop learning this lesson), and partly because I wanted to see if they would respond to the provocation. And they did. The Plaidoyer put on a great victim conference in Montreal in October. Arlene crossed the language barrier and invited me to speak; she took a risk not knowing what I would say or do (actually, Pierre-Hugues vouched for me.) Arlene is warm and kind, and a pioneer in the victim movement in Quebec, following in the path of Micheline Baril

10. Jo-Anne Wemmers, Professor, University of Montreal

An academic, but we need her. Jo-Anne Wemmers is one of the few people in Canada doing actual useful research in the areas of how victims respond to the process of victimization. A protege of Irvin Waller, she is extremely knowledgeable of the comparative justice systems in the United States, Canada and Europe. Her book, Introduction a la victimologie is a must read for those wishing to know the history of victimology in Canada (yes, it's in French - common, learn the language already!)

11. Lola R., Quebec

I cannot tell you Lola's real name. But she is kind and caring, and very courageous. Lola has greatly influenced my life. And I wish her peace this coming year. Lola, tu es dans mon coeur.

12. Deborah Spungen, victim advocate, U.S.A.

Spungen is the mother of Nancy Spungen (yes, that Nancy). She is formerly with NOVA and the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia. I met Spungen because I was trying to get her to speak at an engagement in North Carolina. She is smart and very funny. Her book, Homicide: The Hidden Victims changed my life.

13. Carmen Gill - Director, Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research
I only met Carmen recently, she is new to the centre. I mention her, and Muriel McQueen because it is one of the few organizations in the Maritimes (New Brunswick) I am familiar with (and Carmen came all the way to Vancouver to be involved!).

the other being...

The Beauséjour Family Crisis and Resource Centre in Shediac, New Brunswick whose director is Eva Leblanc. If folks have more info on good people doing good work in Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland let me know.

Where possible, I have included contact links where you can go and seek out these good people. So get out there and do good.

Happy New Year to you all,

John Allore

---------------

UPDATE: Steve Sullivan wrote to inform me that he is definitely NOT a lawyer (my mistake).

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Une message de Pierre-Hugues

I love this guy

Bonjour

Nous lancerons à l'eau un gros bateau au printemps 2005 avec notre association. Nous avons su, par ce projet, éveiller beaucoup d'espoirs chez les familles ayant perdu un être aimé depuis 15 ans et à celles qui avaient beaucoup donné dans le passé afin de faire changer les choses. Pensons aux Bolduc, Surprenant, Cabey, Livernoche, Massicote, Allore, Jarry...et bien d'autres. Aujourd'hui, nous disons que leurs efforts n'auront pas été vains. Ces familles nous ont tracé une voie. En 2005, tous ensembles nous l'élargirons pour qu'elle ne se ferme plus jamais sur les familles.

Parler d'une chose est facile, la critiquer l'est encore plus, mais la changer est souvent un défi de toute vie.

Le temps que nous allons prendre pour changer l'immuable, sera proportionnel à notre force et à notre patience.

Notre force sera le nombre de familles que nous recruterons. Ce sera notre priorité en 2005 soit de rejoindre toutes les familles qui ont perdu un être cher depuis 15 ans afin présenter à nouveau devant le ministre Dupuis au printemps avec 200 familles avec nous. Nous ne prétenderons plus être les représentants de ces familles, nous le serons.

Notre patience sera la clé pour faire avancer nos idées et faire adhérer la population du Québec à celles-ci. Nous devrons savoir les présenter aux décideurs avec stratégie et les défendre fermement mais diplomatiquement. Nos membres devront être au centre de notre préoccupation afin qu'ils nous accompagnent au jour le jour dans notre combat.

Pour une fois, la phrase un pour tous et tous pour un n'a jamais été aussi vraie.

Gardez la en mémoire tout au long de 2005 comme vous gardez en mémoire ceux et celles de vos familles qui sont disparus ou ont été assassinés.

Merci de votre support, de votre amitié et de votre affection.

Bonne année 2005,

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu
père de Julie Boisvenu assassinée en 2002

Ladies and gentlemen...

I have gone wireless.

Yes, through the power of modern technology, not only am I blogging to you at this moment, but I'm also watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer AND snuggling my daughter Theresa-Grace.

THE WORLD WILL CRUMBLE AT MY AWESOME POWER!!!

A little experiment with audioblogging.

My message to you:

Dang! I should have used this at all those victim conferences.

Here's a thirty year old unsolved crime

This stuff is always so disturbing. A family member of Karen Caughlin contacted me yesterday asking for advice. You know, when they describe to you what happened in an email it always seems so discombobulated... then you see a photograph like this and it all makes sense.

Look at this face and tell me the dead don't talk back to you:

ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE
$ 50,000 REWARD

The Government of the Province of Ontario is offering a reward in the amount of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murder of KAREN CAUGHLIN.

On the early morning of March 16, 1974, Karen CAUGHLIN, age 14, was dropped off on Brock Street South in Sarnia, Ontario, in front of her girlfriend’s house. She never entered the residence and her body was discovered later that day in a shallow ditch at the edge of a gravel side road a few miles northwest of the Town of Petrolia, Ontario.

The Ontario Provincial Police urges anyone with information regarding the person(s) responsible for the murder of Karen CAUGHLIN to immediately contact the Ontario Provincial Police at 1-888-310-1122, your nearest Police Agency or Crime Stoppers.

This reward will be apportioned as deemed just by the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services for the Province of Ontario and the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.

This reward expires November 2, 2005.

Gwen Boniface, Commissioner.

777 Memorial Avenue,

Orillia, Ontario, Canada

L3V 7V3

Date: November 2, 2004

Telephone: (705) 329-6950

Facsimile: (705) 329-6077

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

I FINALLY GOT A RESPONSE FROM THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE!

Remember when I wrote Minister Cotler back in July about evidence retention in criminal cases? (take my word for it, I did)

Well six months later he wrote back (actually I received this about a month ago; I've just been too disheartened to post it):

The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Bigshotsville, Canada
Bla-bla-bla

November 29, 2004

John Allore
Nowheresville, U.S.A.

Dear Mr. Allore:

Thank you for your correspondence concerning the retention of physical evidence in criminal cases. I regret the delay in responding.

I recognize that your concerns arise from the criminal investigation into the death of your sister Theresa. While this sad event happened some years ago, it must still be a matter of deep personal loss, and I would first like to express my sincere sympathies.

I note your steadfast commitment to obtaining answers concerning your sister's death. As Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, I am unable to comment regarding individual cases or particular criminal investigations, but I hope that answers and a resolution of this matter may still be possible, despite the passage of years.

The specific question you have raised concerns standards for the retention of evidence in criminal cases and, in particular, whether this is a matter of legislation or whether this is a matter of procedure within individual police forces. There do exist a number of provisions in federal laws, such as the Criminal Code and the Seized Property Management Act, that govern the collection and retention of certain types of physical evidence. The matter raised by you, however, is, at the federal level, largely a matter of police procedure. I note that you remain interested in the particular procedures within the RCMP. Since the RCMP falls under the responsibility of my colleague the Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, I have taken the liberty of forwarding to her a copy of your correspondence as she may be able to provide additional information in this regard.

Thank you again for writing.

Yours sincerely,

Irwin Cotler

That's it? It took them six months to pass the buck?

You know, it's a little like that scene in A Christmas Story where the kid waits months to get a secret decoder ring, only to find the secret message is DRINK YOUR OVALTENE.

Well, guess I'll wait another six months for McLellan to respond: great, I'll wait a whole year to have them say, "Dear Mr. Allore... we don't know the answer to your question".

I must say, this is the first letter from a bureaucrat in which they acknowledged Theresa and managed to spell her name right (we must take our victories where we find them).

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Thanks for the "so-called" Christmas presents this year, Santa. Robo-Sapien.. that's so-like... 2004. And a lame-ass X-box; are you kiddin'? And Star Wars Legos... I've had it up to HERE with Star Wars Legos!

I never get what I really ask for. Why didn't you bring me a Morpheus ESP 3-D Motion Simulator? It's a FAO Schwarz exclusive! Dad says, no wonder they went bankrupt, but he's an idiot anyway.

The Morpheus ESP 3-D Motion Simulator - Priced so you can never afford it

OK, so it costs-like $300,000. So refinance Santa's workshop, sell Vixen into the sex trade, anything, but I'm worth it!

Next year you better cough up the goods, or I am seriously going to stop believing in you.

Signed,

Lionel James Proudfoot III
Danbury, CT
Age 6 1/2

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Uneasy lies her tiara wearin' noggin

"So much for my 05 circumpolar tour with Ken Danby"

Clarkson scraps programs after budget cut

CBC
Fri, 24 Dec 2004 17:38:43 EST

OTTAWA - Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson announced Friday that her office is cancelling a number of programs and projects after Parliament voted to cut her budget by more than $400,000 earlier this month.

Clarkson's office said it was eliminating an outreach program that encourages Canadians to nominate their fellow citizens for national honours, such as the Order of Canada.

Her office will also cut back on training projects and postpone plans to purchase new office equipment.

Earlier in December, the House of Commons voted 171-120 to uphold an all-party parliamentary committee's move to trim $419,000 from Clarkson's $19.1-million official annual budget.

As part of the announced cuts, Clarkson also scrapped the annual winter party for parliamentarians, diplomats and the Parliament Hill press corps.

New Democrat MP Pat Martin, who sits on the parliamentary committee that first recommended chopping the budget, said he thinks Clarkson was sending a message to the MPs by calling off the party.

"I think the journalists and MPs can suffer the consequences of not having so lavish a program this year," he said.

"The Governor General it seems has done her best to comply with the wishes of the parliamentary committee and at the same time sent a clear message to those that implemented the change that she's not terribly pleased."

But Lucie Brosseau, spokesperson at Rideau Hall, said cancelling the winter party was not vindictive.

"Absolutely not. We had very little room to manoeuvre," she said. "We carefully looked at every line of the budget to see where things could be cut. We had to cut on things that cost the most money and that type of reception costs $60,000."

The Governor General's annual salary is $106,175, following an increase in 2002. It was $3,500 less when Clarkson took office in 1999.

Total government expenditure related to Rideau Hall was $41 million in 2003, including costs billed to the Department of National Defence, RCMP and other bodies.

Critics have accused Clarkson of spending too much in carrying out her ceremonial post.
A $5.3-million tour of circumpolar countries in 2003, in which the Governor General and her husband were accompanied by a retinue of Canadian artists, drew particular ire and led to the cancellation of a second leg of the trip.

I'm holed-up enjoying my favorite Christmas present (after my Tim Horton's 40th anniversary coffee mug) Mary Roach's STIFF - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.

The Book

The Mug

Having resolved all other serious issues, the Supreme Court of Canada decides to tackle last remaining legal knot

Highest court asked to rule on old Lone Ranger term

HALIFAX - The Supreme Court of Canada is being asked to hear arguments on whether the word "kemosabe" is racist to native people.

The request comes from the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, which is dealing with a grievance dating back to 1999.

''We think it's time to … have some ground rules so people know what's permissible and what isn't.' – human rights lawyer

Dorothy Kateri Moore, a Mi'kmaq woman working at a sports store in Sydney, N.S., had complained that her boss, Trevor Miller, referred to her and other workers as "kemosabe" – the term used by the 1950s TV character Tonto, the Lone Ranger's sidekick, to describe the masked cowboy.

Moore said Miller told her the word meant "friend." But she claimed it was a racial slur and that its repeated use led to a poisoned work environment.

Last February, a human rights board of inquiry ruled Moore was not discriminated against because she hadn't shown she was offended by the word, nor did she ask her boss to stop using it.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal upheld that ruling in October, saying Moore had not shown the term was "notoriously offensive."

For the first time in its 37-year history, the commission has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to appeal a decision of the province's Court of Appeal.

Commission lawyers say they will argue employees were afraid to speak up to their employer and they want the Supreme Court to draw the line on what language is acceptable in the workplace.

"The idea that there are some words that are notoriously offensive and some that aren't, and the burden on the employee shifts depending on that, really creates a lot of confusion in the workplace," said commission lawyer Michael Wood.

"We think it's time to clarify that and have some ground rules so people know what's permissible and what isn't."

During the inquiry hearings, several members of the Mi'kmaq community testified that "kemosabe" was a racial slur, although others said they were not offended by it.

The board of inquiry spent one day looking at old Lone Ranger shows, eventually concluding that the term was never used in a derogatory way and that Tonto and the Lone Ranger treated each other with respect.

The Supreme Court has yet to decide if it will hear the appeal.

Editorial from The Chapel Hill News on Dalzell Arrest

Opinion
Published: Dec 23, 2004
Case may teeter on Miranda rights

Superior Court Judge Wade Barber has a distressing decision to make on Jan. 10. Before him is a defendant who confessed to a murder, even disclosing where he disposed of the body. But also before him is a strong argument that the confession should be suppressed.

The case is a heartbreaker. After seven years of suspecting Andrew Douglas Dalzell in the 1997 disappearance of Deborah Leigh Key, who was last seen with Dalzell, Carrboro police had a warrant to arrest him. But not on a charge of murder; Dalzell had been charged with stealing merchandise from a hobby store where he had worked.

Yet, in the patrol car that transported him from Lincoln County, where he was picked up, to Carrboro, Dalzell had laid out before him a fake warrant for his arrest for murder. And an officer read to him a letter purportedly from the district attorney's office stating that he would face the death penalty unless he disclosed the location of the body.

In addition, Dalzell was encouraged by police in the patrol car to "tell the truth about whatever happened" and "be a man and let the demon go."

Under those conditions, Dalzell confessed to killing Key and taking her body to Wilmington.

Judging from the comments of other police chiefs and Carrboro Chief Carolyn Hutchison, using fake documents and making false statements are acceptable police procedure, although some legal experts say the particular ones used in this case skirt the edge of acceptability.

The more serious problem here is that Carrboro police -- in consultation, apparently, with District Attorney Carl Fox -- may have too narrowly defined what constitutes interrogation. They did not read Dalzell his Miranda right until after they arrived at the police station -- after the three-hour ride in the patrol car and after Dalzell confessed.

The case for suppression may hinge on that detail.

Interrogation does not require a sentence with a question mark at the end. The courts have found that interrogation can be any action reasonably designed to elicit a response -- a gesture, a look, a circumstance, false documents.

The fake warrant, the fake letter alone could be seen as designed to elicit a response, not to mention the officer's urging Dalzell tell the truth, to "let the demon go."

The Carrboro police clearly believed they were engaging in sound police work and should be able to take pride in solving the

7-year-old case and bringing closure to Key's family and the many friends who have been haunted by her mysterious disappearance.

But did they risk too much by waiting to Mirandize their suspect before letting the ruse they had devised do its work? Would having heard those words most of us know by heart from TV shows have prevented Dalzell from letting go of his demons?

Sadly, we fear the answer to the first question is yes, and to the second, no.

The fake documents, apparently, moved him to confess and to disclose where he disposed of the body. Having heard at the start of that long ride in the patrol car that he could remain silent and was entitled to a lawyer probably would have had little impact on his emotional state or his decision to talk.

It's also disturbing that District Attorney Fox has stated that it is not his duty to advise police on arrest procedures. Carrboro police consulted with him; he has said he was aware of their plans to use the fake document and to delay reading Dalzell his rights. Doesn't that imply they were seeking his input on how to build a case that would hold up in court?

It seems clear that the ruse was carefully planned with Fox and the police chief and was carried out with every expectation that the scheme was within the realm of sound police and legal practice.

The case presents a terrible dilemma: It may be that in order to protect the rights of everyone, a man who has confessed to murder is set free.

Justice, unfortunately, isn't always right.

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Here's a cheery little holiday comment.

Hi John,

I found your blog via a search for information on Andrew Dalzell/Deborah Key.

I was good friends with Andrew's dad Mike,(Andrew was adopted), until Mike succumbed to Cancer. I met Andrew when he was about 10. When Mike was alive, I was even at the house, believe me, it did't look like what you describe then.

I was also friendly with Deborah, after she disappeared, I even contacted the Chapel Hill Police Dept.(guess I should of gone to Carrboro, huh), I was positive then that Andrew had killed her, and I am positive now.

I even confronted Andrew, of course he denied involvement. But I was reminded of an earlier conversation that we had. He was saying that if he killed someone, they would never find the body, because he would put it in a pond on the Greensboro Highway.

One of my friends is a C.H. cop, and her husband is a cop in Carrboro. I am in the process of trying to get ahold of them, but what with the Holidays and all, it is tough.

Thanks for all,

Denise

Friday, December 24, 2004

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah... it's time for Gravy's Quebec Weird Crime Round-up

The Montreal Mirror
The year in weird crime
by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

Those who threaten our peaceful ways with their lewd, deviant behaviour get their comeuppance not only in front of the judge's gavel, but also in this paper. For in the people's court of these pages, the miscreant actions are also unmasked, revealed and scrutinized. Those who dare read the Mirror's annual round-up of crime in Quebec be warned: this is not recommended for the easily outraged or those trying to digest a meal.

Celebrity poops on rug!
Ageing vedette Michèle Richard has launched no shortage of outrageous controversy and this year found her at her most inspired. Richard's annual episode took place in September, when she was informed that her dogs were forbidden in her hotel room. She howled in protest, police came and she was handcuffed and taken to a cell - but not before leaving a steamy piece of excrement on the floor of the hotel room. Her lawyer later explained: "Stress caused a physical reaction of a sort that a material didn't reach its destination and her panties suffered a trauma." She denied speculation that the brouhaha was a carefully staged event to promote her new CD.

They seduce horses don't they?
Denis Audette, 70, was caught having intercourse with a horse in March 2001. "I'm doing nothing wrong," he told the animal's owner when caught pants-down. The owner caught him doing it again and again, a dozen times in total over the next couple of years. Audette's pièce-de-résistance was possibly the moment he was caught performing cunnilingus on one horse while manually stimulating another. On July 19 cops decided they had enough evidence to try Audette. He was found guilty and given a suspended sentence.

Growl for the camera
An American F-1 fan snappin' tourist pix on Crescent inadvertently shot a pic with Jeffrey Sénat, 24, and Mitch Pierre-Louis, 18, in the background. The duo allegedly pulled their car over and beat the shutterbug savagely before stabbing him in the neck twice. Usually unreliable drunken onlookers shucked their traditional ways and jumped the transgressors, holding them until cops came. The baddies were charged with attempted murder.

Apache Trudeau scores the murderer, pedophile and informant trifecta
Yves "Apache" Trudeau, 58, apparently unsatisfied with the mere title of being the most prolific hit man in Canadian history with 43 notches in his belt, added "homosexual pedophile" to his résumé after repeatedly having sex with a teenage boy unaware of his villainous past. Trudeau had served a mere seven years in prison from 1986 to 1993, a result of having turned informant. He has been on welfare since 2002, around the time he took to being anally serviced by the lad. Trudeau pled mercy to the court, noting that fellow inmates aren't crazy about either informants or pedophiles, of which he is now officially both, as well as a mass murderer, of course. He was given four years.

Slipped her mind
Men don't usually complain of being raped by women, with one exception - the addict being treated at a special therapy centre in Sherbrooke who ended up snuggling with a fellow addict named Chantal Blanchette, 35. After coupling, Blanchette mentioned to him that she's had AIDS for 10 years. According to law you've got to disclose such a fact prior to copulation. The plaintiff, named Alain, also later learned that Blanchette is a transsexual. Blanchette pled guilty to aggravated assault and will be sentenced in January.

Another bum-pinching menace to society
Léo Pelletier, 54, caressed the backsides of four women on Cartier Avenue in Quebec City, a deed that merited six months in the cooler. A judge deemed the Agriculture Ministry economist's misdeed more serious because he made the mistake of including a minor among the recipients of the Benny Hill handshake and was also caught drunk driving while awaiting trial. The judge speculated that Pelletier was suffering from "toucherisme" as a result of psychological trauma caused by his prostate cancer.

Prison rape is nothing compared to fights over the remote
When convicted cocaine dealer Gregory Papadakis tried changing the channel in a Gatineau prison, fellow inmate Denis Philion disagreed with the choice of station. He pushed Papadakis down, injuring him. This all happened on Dec. 31, 1991, but after years bouncing around courts, a judge finally decided that Philion would have to pony up $60,000 to the victim of the TV remote fracas.

And they called it puppy love
When chef Mehmet Yildrim, 42, saw a hot 83-year-old woman at the restaurant he worked at last March, he went into seduction mode. Yildrim flattered the old lady's appearance, put his hand on her thigh and got her phone number. The Turkish-born cook is said to have later visited the wrinkly octogenarian at her Thetford Mines home, where he felt up her apparently ageless body for about an hour. When he returned for more grandmotherly lovin' the next day, the woman complained and had him arrested on charges of sexual assault. He faces more court appearances next year.

Not enough pepper in the pepper spray
In April, Jeremiah Thomas, serving a murder sentence at Donnacona prison, stabbed fellow inmate Saalim Speede to death. Prison guards nearby had tried to stop the attack by dousing the aggressor with pepper spray, which they later acknowledge didn't even slow him down. Prison officials were left pondering their recipe for pepper spray.

I confess. I did it. What's the crime again?
Quebec City police were high-fiving each other for getting Simon Marshall to confess to a series of sexual assaults, for which he served 62 months, even though the victims failed to identify him as the attacker. In prison, he was thrice denied parole, as he was deemed a danger to the public. Authorities started feeling a little sheepish when he walked through the door this summer and confessed to demanding a BJ at knifepoint in Place Laurier - even after DNA evidence proved he didn't commit the act. Now authorities are wondering if the simpleminded man's real problem is confessing to crimes he hears about on TV.

Duelling vibrator cat fight
Sex shop owner Huguette Tremblay of La Clé du Plaisir in Beauport accepted a misdelivered packaged destined to a competitor containing 70 vibrators, costing $1,082. When she passed them on to their proper owner, Veronique Fuchs's Love Boutique, the package was 20 plastic penises short. Trémblay was convicted of fraud for nabbing the dildos but given an unconditional discharge.

No sickos here
Remember Daniel Cormier, 53, the anti-Gay Games preacher who ran for mayor in 2001? In March the proselytizing zealot was charged with sexing up an 11-year-old girl, whom he referred to as his "wife." It was one of a series of child-loving misdeeds he is alleged to have committed between 1993 and 2002. The former Wisdom Party mayoral candidate was accused of taking advantage of youth he met in his work with downtown homeless and street youth. His trial continues next year.

Babysitter must eat poo-poo
A 28-year-old mother in St-Anne-de-Beaupré was sentenced to two years less a day for visiting her babysitter with a friend and beating him and forcing him to eat his own excrement and drink his own urine. The mother was angry that the babysitting 18-year-old boy, considered slightly retarded, had allegedly sexually assaulted her seven- and three-year-olds. The duo detained the boy for over an hour and threatened to detach his penis. The boy faces charges of sexual assault on the minors.

Man-child court
A 34-year-old Terrebonne father of three was tried as a minor after a cold case squad linked him to the murder of Paul-Emile Bértrand, 56, in a botched robbery on Beaubien in October 1986. Investigators found DNA evidence that pointed to the textile worker, whose name is withheld as he was a minor at the time of the crime. The man is the first adult to be tried in Quebec youth court. He pled guilty to involuntary homicide and was sentenced to two years less a day, served in the community.

Home renovations cost more these days
Pierre Saintonge, 55 and Marc Denicolai, 47, were doing repairs on the house of an 81-year-old woman in Vieux Longueuil, who paid them in cash for their work. The men worked a gruelling two hours a day for seven months and charged her half-a-million for their labours, which started in March 2002. They were busted this year: Saintonge got five years in prison, Denicolai two years less a day. Both were ordered to pay back the dough.

Something to do in St-Eustache
In early October, Jonathan Bonneau, 20, of St-Eustache, was charged with building three bombs with butane, air purifier, propane, etc. and popping one in the dumpster behind the local Dollarama. Police say he then put one in a Saturn and then an SUV, leaving $60,000 of damage in his wake. Another bomb failed to blow and cops say they quickly lifted his fingerprints off the tape holding that one together.

Breaking up is hard to do
Annie Simard, 31, a Boisbriand mother of two, was dumped by her boyfriend Gilles Ravel, 35. The couple had been lovers for 12 years. Police say she went to his house, knocked him out with a Mickey Finn and, as he was falling asleep from the spiked cocktail, strangled him with a rope. But Ravel didn't quite succumb, and indeed recovered enough to call 911. Simard was charged with attempted murder the next day.

The naughty schoolteacher
Former Lachute city council candidate Louis Laurin, a private school teacher, was sentenced to three years for turning a 14-year-old into his mistress. Although his wife was seen participating in some of the videos, the court let her off, mainly because of her "passive" role. The couple separated, and the once-praised schoolteacher declared bankruptcy.

A lame business plan
When Steve Parizeault lost a leg in a train mishap, he was compensated with enough cash to buy an apartment building for his mom and cars for his brothers. He also had enough loot to start his own business as a crack cocaine dealer. It wasn't a great career choice, as the Rough Riders Gang in LaSalle warned him repeatedly that he was encroaching on their turf. On January 17, the one-legged dealer was gunned down. Alleged gang member Daryl Griffith, 18, was charged with the murder.

Shopaholic mother turns fraud artist
Quebec City's Lise Giguère, scored a windfall with compensation cash when cop hubby Jacques was killed by a crooked colleague Serge Lefebvre in 1985. Giguère promptly became a spendaholic. After the cash ran out, she got a job at Robert Bury construction supplies, whom she bilked for $966,500 by manipulating the payroll before being nailed this year. Before getting two years, she told the judge that she blamed her employer for their poor surveillance of her work, and was trying to compensate for her children's lack of a father with heaps of consumer goods.

Some wet dream
At a trial in Hull, a 49-year-old man argued that he wasn't guilty of molesting a 14-year-old girl in March 2002 because he did it while sleepwalking. It didn't work. He was found guilty but is appealing.

I SAID I LIKE MY STEAK RARE!!!!
Sophie Lévesque and Christian Dussault of Val-Bélair invited Stéphane Laroche to dinner in August. Police say that Laroche, for reasons unclear, entered and committed the social faux pas of attempting to kill his hosts with a knife. Both survived the bad table manners and Laroche was charged with attempted murder.

Valentine's surprise
Tak Fu Deer bunked on the top and his sister Lai-Wah, 51, bunked on the bottom in their Rosemont apartment until the day she irritated him by accusing him of mooching food. He strangled her on Valentine's Day. Deer left her dead in bed until she was found by relatives several days later, her face apparently having been nibbled at by rats running rampant in the home. He was brought into the Pinel Institute for long-term psychiatric evaluation.

Finally a store that welcomes shoplifters!
Maria Milagros Pardes Pinedo, 33, and Kelly Aliago Castro, 24, were busted at 6442 St-Laurent for allegedly running a store that specialized in shoplifted clothing. They had 2,000 articles worth $250,000. Their thievin' suppliers weren't caught.

Love knows no bounds
A 14-year-old from Donnacona was found guilty in August of smacking her sleeping stepfather on the head with a skillet and then stabbing him to death. She was upset because he agreed with her mom that she shouldn't continue dating her 20-year-old boyfriend.

He could always try tunnelling out of prison
Celebrity criminal Marcel Talon, best known for his attempt to tunnel into the Bank of Montreal in 1993, believed he had won immunity for past crimes. This led him to confess to two bombing murders in his autobiography. It was such a hit that it was made into the movie Le Dernier tunnel. Unfortunately prosecutors didn't consider him as immune as he considered himself. His confessed crimes led them to formally charge him with murder this year.

A backside to be admired from a distance
MC Mario, who was recently found guilty of sexual assault after a February 2002 smoochfest in St-Jérôme, explained that he was only accused because one of the victims was offended when he mistakenly assumed she was a prostitute. In an interview with Photo Police prior to the verdict, Mario had expressed mixed feelings about his accuser. "She's got quite a personality, but she's also got an amazing bum."

Your host

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Each year I get several requests for my Christmas Rum Cookie Recipe !
Make sure you have all the ingredients on your last minute shopping list.....and enjoy !

Christmas Rum Cookies

Rum Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup of water
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Captain Morgan's Black Rum

Sample the Captain Morgan's to check quality. Take a large bowl.....check the Rum again to be sure it is of the highest quality.....pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer.......
Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add flour and one teaspoon of sugar.......Beat again.

At this point it's best to make sure the Rum is still OK.....try another cup........just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy......Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit......

Pick the frigging fruit off floor.......Mix on the turner.....If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver.......Sample the Rum to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something......Who giveshz a sheet......Check the Rum.......Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts......Add one table.....Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink.......Whatever you can find.....

Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over......Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Rum and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

CHERRY MISTMAS

Well whatdya' know, I've been running this lil' old blog for over a year now.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

There's a funny moment in Alan Young's book Justice Defiled in which the Toronto law professor says something like, "... by the time you read this the Robert Pickton trial will be underway." Young's book was published in 2003, and now we learn that Pickton may not face trial until 2006.

Charges against Pickton could double, judge says

By GREG JOYCE
Canadian Press

New Westminster, B.C. — Evidence against accused serial killer Robert Pickton could be as voluminous as that gathered during the 19-year-long investigation into the Air-India disaster, a judge said Monday.

The enormity of the case could mean it may not go to trial until 2006 — four years after Mr. Pickton was originally arrested in February 2002.

By then, the charges against him could more than double, the Crown reiterated Monday.
Mr. Pickton, a pig farmer from suburban Port Coquitlam, is charged with 15 counts of first-degree murder connected to some of the missing women from Vancouver's tough Downtown Eastside.

The Crown has said it expects to add another seven counts before the trial and DNA samples of nine additional women have been identified on the farm. As well, there is a sample from an unknown woman, bringing the total possible number of charges to date to 32.

On Monday, Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm made a plea to the families of the women Mr. Pickton is accused of killing, asking for their understanding in the continuing delays.

“Every effort is being made to get this matter on for trial,” he said. “It may not appear so to the families. I'm asking you to be patient a little while longer.”

The judge described the delay as a situation “that everybody does understand or should understand.”

“There are a very large number of exhibits, probably more so than in the Air India matter,” he said in reference to the trial of two men charged with killing 331 people in two 1985 blasts.
The accused did not attend the hearing but appeared by a videolink, wearing the standard red prison uniform and seated on a chair in a room inside the institution where he is being detained.

Outside court, Crown spokesman Geoff Gaul suggested there could be even more charges beyond the 22 the Crown has already indicated it will pursue.

“There is an indication of potential other charges but the Crown won't speculate if there will be anything beyond the 15 plus seven.”

Mr. Gaul and Mr. Pickton's lead lawyer, Peter Ritchie, also reiterated the judge's observation about the volume of the evidence in the case.

“I think it's fair to say that this is what one may characterize as a mega-case,” said Mr. Gaul.
Mr. Ritchie told reporters: “I don't know if anybody's ever weighed the boxes or looked at all the computer discs but there is a huge amount of information in this case that both sides are dealing with.”

He also said that if all the evidence was printed on paper “it would fill many rooms.”

Crown prosecutor Mike Petrie and Mr. Ritchie told Judge Dohm some of the evidence is still being analysed in labs.

The principals in the case made their comments about the continuing delays because some victims' families have expressed frustration and anger at the delays in getting the case to trial.

Ernie Crey, whose sister Dawn's DNA was found at the farm site although Mr. Pickton has not been charged with her murder, told reporters he got some comfort from the judge's comments.

“I was frustrated at the delays to date,” said Mr. Crey. “The delays were confusing but after listening to the judge take the matter in firm hands and establish some signposts for further down the road for the defence and Crown, I felt somewhat more comfortable that the whole process was inching ahead.”

Ernie Crey

The judge set the next hearing date for March 31, where he said he hoped the lawyers for the defence and Crown would be able to set a timeline for the pre-trial arguments to begin.

Judge Dohm also set a second date of June 27, at which time he said the judge in the trial would be appointed.

Those dates suggest the pre-trial arguments won't begin until the fall. The court heard those could take as long as four months.

That means the trial itself likely won't start until 2006.

Mr. Ritchie later told reporters the delays are frustrating for the defence as well.

“Both sides want to get this thing started but we have problems doing it for a number of reasons including the analysis of exhibits.”

The Crown has agreed to a defence request to speed up analysis of some exhibits that could help the defence.

“Some of the results from the analysis of the exhibits may prove very useful to the defence,” said Mr. Ritchie.

Mr. Pickton, 54, has been in custody since his arrest Feb. 7, 2002, when police descended on the farm and other property he and his family owned.

Dozens of investigators, aided by forensic anthropologists, took apart every building on the pig farm and sifted through hundreds of tonnes of dirt looking for evidence.

His lengthy preliminary hearing concluded in June 2003.

A sobering list of 768 women and children murdered in Quebec since the "Montreal Massacre" at L'Ecole Polytechnique on December 6th, 1989...

15 ans après l’attentat terroriste de l’École Polytechnique… la violence sexiste continue

768 DES FEMMES ET ENFANTS TUÉES PAR DES HOMMES EN TANT QU’HOMMES OU PAR DES INCONNUS, AU QUÉBEC SEULEMENT, DEPUIS LE 6 DÉCEMBRE 1989

*Italiques: Enfants et jeunes (172) Caractères gras: les 14 femmes abattues par un masculiniste à l’École Polytechnique de Montréal, le 6 décembre 1989

Ada Burns, Aïda El-Tomi, Agnes McCormick-McKenzie, Ai Ny Cai, Albina Arbour Cloutier, Alex Maheux-Royer, Alexandra McBride, Alexandre Blanchette, Alexandre Riendeau, Alice Benoît, Alice Lépine-Reeves, Alicia Moses, Aline Dubé, Aline Robidoux, Aline Taylor-Francoeur, Aloma Potvin, Alonzo Ortiz, Amanda Huard, Ana Maria Solinas Norbaak, Anastasia Siméon, Andréa Gagné, Andrée Gagné, Andrée Halpin, Andréanne Tremblay, Andrée Guénette, Angel Laskaris, Angela Moreau, Anita Lelièvre, Ann Lyons, Ann Tuyet Nguen, Anna Marden, Anna Yarnold, Anna-Maria Codina-Leva, Anne Brissette, Anne Laurin, Anne-Lisa Cefali, Anne-Marie Edward, Anne-Marie Lemay, Anne-Marie Morin, Anne-Marie Sharpe, Annette Wilson, Annick Babin, Annick Gravel, Annie Dominique-Normandin, Annie Lapointe, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte, Anthony Lefebvre-Richer, Antoinette Asselin, Antonia Cantin, Ashley Pluviose, Audrey Danjou-Chrétien, Audrey Dubé, Audrey-Ève Charron, Audrey Martin, Audrey Paquet, Aurélie Grimoux, Aurore Tremblay (2), Aylin Olana-Garcia, Barbara Daigneault, Barbara Erhardt, Barbara Maria Kluznick, Bee-Leei Meng, Béatrice De Montigny, Béatrice Lavoie, Béatrice Thibodeau, Benoît Marceau, Bercuhi Leylekoglu, Berta Dimidjan, Berthe Hardy-Blanchette, Bianca Caron, Binh-Khieu-Thanh Tran, Bitha Mengo Munsi, Blandine Simoneau-Girard, Bonnie Dagenais, Born Samphorn, Brejnev Lee Maynard, Brigitte Gagné, Brigitte St-Germain, Calliope Vournous, Carmel Louisjeune, Carmen Lagueux, Carmie Jeannot, Carmina Rivas, Carole Bienvenue, Carole Blanchette, Carole Boisvert, Carole Lachapelle, Carole Lirette, Carole Martin, Carole Rajotte, Carolle Deschamps, Caroline Guimond, Caroline Landry, Caroline Laniel, Caroline Poulin, Caroline Veilleux, Carrie Dolores Mancuso, Carrie-Ann Larocque, Catherine Dansereau, Catherine Morin,Cathy Brooks, Cathy Caretta, Cécile Clément, Cécile Roy, Cédric Alexandre-Scott, Cédric Bourgeois-Cadieux, Céline Fréchette, Céline Lemieux-Letendre, Céline Letellier, Céline Pearson, Céline Saint-Amant, Chantal Brière, Chantal Brochu, Chantal Coutu, Chantal Lavoie, Chantal Tremblay, Chantale Gervais, Charlene McFarlane, Charles Gagné, Charles Tremblay, Chien Chin Wong, Christian Girard, Christiane Asselin, Christiane Boucher, Christiane Maurice, Christina Deladurantaye, Christina Mitriou, Christina Palasanu, Christine Baillargeon, Christine Dallaire-Labelle, Christine De Grandmont, Christine Deslauriers, Christine Dubé, Christine Leclerc, Christine Lessard, Christine Speich, Christine Tremblay, Christophe-Emmanuel Robinson, Chrystelle Lavigne-Gagnon, Cindy Bouchard, Cindy Faucher, Claire Lafrenière, Claire Ouellet-Bourgault, Claire Samson, Claude Ferron, Claude Julien, Claude Lecours, Claudette Archambault-Perron, Claudette Frenière, Claudette Servant, Claudia De Montigny, Claudia Drouin, Claudine Breault, Claudine Caron, Clothilde d’Auteuil-Quimper, Colette Harnois, Colette Julien, Colette Rondeau, Cristobalina Vasquez, Cynthia Crichlow, Daniel Desrochers, Danielle André, Danielle Boucher, Danielle Dufour, Danielle Falardeau, Danielle Guilbault, Danielle Laplante, Danielle Provost, Danny Deschamps, Dany Fleurant, David Guillet, David Prieur-Santerre, Deborah Ann Rothmann, Deilia Tautu, Delima Kopeau, Denise Charron, Denise Duquette, Denise Martel, Denise Rybicki, Diana Tautu, Diane Bergeron, Diane Couture, Diane Durand, Diane Francis, Diane Gélinas, Diane Labelle, Diane Latour, Diane Lavigne, Diane Massicotte, Diane Paquette, Diane Tremblay, Dolores Lijoi, Dominique Papineau, Dominique Tremblay, Donald Desruisseaux, Donna Norris, Dora Psyrris, Dorine Mallette, Dylan Lebel, Elaine Cormier, Éliane Hervieux, Elisapi Assepa, Elise Leboeuf, Elizabeth Bernachez-Larocque, Elizabeth Fuller, Emilia Thomas, Émilie Thinel, Emma Reda di Girolano, Emmanuella Corso, Éric Arpin, Éric Beauvais, Éric Labonne, Estelle Letendre, Esther Conserve, Eva Paradis, Ève St-Onge, Evette Brown-Alliman, Fabian Mitchell, Fanny Kingstone, Fatima Kama, Florence Bouchard, France Bazinet, France Cossette, France Beauregard, France Lacharité, France Legault, France Pelletier, France Roy (2), France Saint-Germain, Francine Gouin, Francine Lacroix, Francine Lefebvre, Francine Turcotte-Bérard, Francine Valois, Francine Villeneuve, Francis Boucher, François Mongrain, François Wistaff, Françoise Barnes-Carrière, Françoise Beaulieu, Françoise Beaulne, Françoise Lirette, Frankz Anatole, Gaétane Saint-Pierre, Gemma Dessureault, Geneviève Bergeron, Geneviève Dubois, Geneviève Prieur-Santerre, Georges-Éric Lohier, Georgette Forget, Germaine Charbonneau, Germaine Désilets, Germaine Hebert, Gertrude Paquin, Ghislaine Dubé, Ghislaine Gagnon, Ghislaine Poirier, Gilberte Desalliers, Ginette Boucher, Ginette Dufresne, Ginette Gaudette, Ginette Gauthier, Ginette Lamirande-Grenon, Ginette Legault, Ginette Rivard, Ginette Roger, Ginette Vincent, Gisèle Côté, Guylaine Fortin, Guylaine Gent, Guylaine Leblond, Guylaine Potvin, Hanh Nguyen, Helen Bauer, Hélène Colgan, Hélène Dufresne, Hélène Farman, Hélène Hurtubise, Hélène Langlais, Hélène Morneau, Hélène Plante, Hélène Verreault, Hend El-Tomi, Hermeline Leblanc-Bourdages, Hilary Erhardt, Hortensia Diaz, Huguette Boulanger, Huguette Demers-Paradis, Huguette-Marie Brideau, Ian Lambert-Tourangeau, Ida Rudy Kramer, Immaculée-Barbara Pierre, Innocent Kastar, Isabelle Bacon, Isabelle Bolduc, Isabelle Brouillette-Venne, Isabelle Champoux, Isabelle Denis, Isabelle Lotz, Isabelle Rolin, Isabelle Villeneuve, Ivy Roberts, Jacinthe Dufour, Jacqueline Bernard, Jacqueline Dansereau, Jacqueline Fortin, Jacqueline Lecors, Jadwiga Lorynski, Jae Woo Hu, Jane Grefford, Janet Kuchinski, Janette Daigneault, Janie Lefebvre, Jasmine Mathews, Jayshri Patel, Jea In Hu, Jean-Anthony Richer, Jean-Christophe Roy, Jean-Francois Leclerc, Jean-Francois Lessard, Jean-François Parenteau, Jean-Marc Harper, Jean-Philippe Rossignol, Jean-Vanel Prévost, Jeanet Grenier-Lajoie, Jeanie Poucachie, Jeanne Bouchard, Jeanne Francoeur, Jeanne d’Arc Alarie-Ouellet, Jeanne-Lolita Cameron, Jeannelle Dumont, Jeannette Fradette-Fréchette, Jeannette Lamoureux, Jeannine Boissonneault-Durand, Jeannine Gagnon, Jeannine Marineau, Jenny Lenner, Jérôme Fréchette-Vachon, Jérôme Leclerc, Jérôme Langlois, Jessica Charbonneau, Jessica Chiasson-Huard, Jessica Grimard, Jessica Lemire-Gagnon, Jessica Sylvain, Joan Williams, Joanna Simolenska-Powada, Joanne Beaudoin, Joanne Cloutier, Joanne Foessi, Joanne Murray, Joanne Salvatore, Jocelyn Toope, Jocelyne Bourbonnais-Delorme, Jocelyne Lemay, Jocelyne Montreuil, Jocelyne Parent, Jocelyne Plante, Jocelyne Poirier, Joëlle Delage, Joëlle Tremblay, Johanne Bonhomme, Johanne Chalut, Johanne Godbout, Johanne Guay, Johanne Patenaude, Johanne Plante, Johanne Renaud, Johanne Saint-Éloi, Johanne Valade, John Feurer Pellerin, Joleil Campeau, Jonathan Beaudin, Jonathan Brodeur, Jonathan Couture, Jonathan Gilbert, Josée Jobidon, Josée Johnston, Josée Mathieu, Josée Matte, Josée Olsen, Josée Paquin, Josée Pitre, Josée Siracusa, Josée Tremblay, Joséphine Sberna, Joséphine Petitpas, Josette Duchesne, Josette Therriault, Josiane Jeannot, Joyce Bond, Judy Clark, Judy O’Reilly, Julie Beauvais, Julie Boisvenu, Julie Gendron, Julie Labonne, Julie Marcil, Justin Bauer, Justin Langlois, Juthlande Pierre, Kamalmatie Mulidhar-Janack, Karen Margaret Ann Lewis, Karine Gaudreault, Karina Janveau, Karine Hamel, Karine Pagé, Karyn Hicks, Kathryn Hannan, Kathy Rioux, Katti Blouin, Kevin Stringer, Kelly Ann Drummond, Kelly-Lynn Fitzpatrick, Kim Parent, Kristina Blain, Lai “Josephine” Wah, Laorina Adriansen, Laurette Jarry, Laurette Roy, Laurin Lirette, Laurie Fréchette, Leila Arbaoui, Leila El-Tomi, Léonie Hanscom-Dubé, Lijuan Wang, Liliane De Montigny, Lina Charron, Lina Stinziani, Linda Borden, Linda Condo, Linda Lafrance, Line Laforce, Lise Beaudoin, Lise Bélisle, Lise Bourgeois, Lise Brisebois, Lise Cossette, Lise Desmarais, Lise Hardy, Lise Laporte, Lise Papineau, Lise Phaneuf, Lise Raymond, Lise Roberge-Beaudoin, Lise Verreault-Bélanger, Lisette Boucher, Lorraine Bourgeois, Lorraine Keogh, Lorraine Pelletier, Louana Charles, Louise Campbell, Louise Chaput, Louise De Prater, Louise Dubreuil, Louise Ellis, Louise Fleury, Louise Héroux, Louise Gagnon, Louise Lessard-Piché, Louise Macenat, Louise Pageau, Louise Plante-Ouellet, Louise Prieur-Santerre, Louise Ruel, Louiselle Caron, Louisette Laflamme, Lucette Boily, Lucette Mageau-Casey, Lucie Brousseau, Lucie Castonguay, Lucie Dionne, Lucie Gélinas, Lucille Gignac-Gélinas, Lucille Morin, Ludovic Giasson, Luis Antonio Ortiz, Lyane Breault, Lydia Enaruiluk, Lyne Saint-Onge, Lyne Villeneuve, Lynn Labonté, Manon Dubé, Manon Hamel, Manon Leblanc, Manon Lécuyer, Manon Paquin, Manon Trottier, Manuel Pouw, Marc Falardeau, Marc-Alexandre Chartrand, Margaret Anglin, Marguerite Boka, Marguerite Landry, Marguerite Montreuil, Marguerite Paris-Beauregard, Maria Gallo-Dubé, Maria Susette Lamos, Marie Bourdeau, Marie Clermont-Bazzarelli, Marie Lemay, Marie-Anne Bouffard, Marie-Berthe Marcotte, Marie-Chantale Desjardins, Marie-Claude Côté, Marie-Claire Pothier, Marie-Eve Larivière, Marie-France Foucault, Marie-Ghislaine Charles, Marie-Hélène Dubé, Marie-Jimcia Augustin, Marie-Josée Champagne, Marie-Paule Foucault, Marie-Paule Gagné, Marie-Pier Gauthier, Marie-Pier Joly, Marielle Michaud, Marielle Villeneuve, Mariette Giroux, Mariette Lacombe, Marilu Ortiz, Marlene Hogue, Marthe Beaulieu, Martine Auger, Martine Lefebvre, Martine Scotto, Marwan Harb, Mary Begg, Mary Glenn, Maryse Charron, Maryse Côté, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Maryse Levac, Matthew Collins, Matthieu McDonald, Maud Bélair, Maud Haviernick, Maxime Ayotte-McPhee, Maxime Raymond, Maxime Giasson Saint-Hilaire, Mélanie Cabay, Mélanie Messier, Melina Laskaris, Mélissa Williski, Mercedes Castellanos, Mercedez Boudu, Michael Paquette, Michael-Stéphane Jolin, Michel Perreault, Michèle Bernard, Michèle Blais, Michèle Richard, Micheline-Ange Charest, Micheline Bond, Micheline Cuerrier, Micheline Denis, Micheline Dufault, Micheline Grégoire-Denis, Micheline Lacharité, Micheline Lapierre, Micheline Leblanc, Micheline Sévigny, Michelle Rhéaume,Mikael McDonald, Mikaela Tautu, Milia Abrar, Mina Brascoupé-Jérôme, Ming Hung Ha, Minnie Kenuajuak, Mireille Bélanger, Mireille Bruneau, Moïra Fortin, Monique Gaudreau, Monique Gravel, Monique Saint-Germain, Monique Stocker, Monique Woods, Mylène Marceau, Myriam Chrétien, Myriam Valois, Nadège Châtelain, Nadia Fera Panarello, Nadia Marion, Nancy Guimond, Nancy Lebreux, Nancy Martins, Nancy Ouellette, Nancy Potvin, Nancy West, Natacha Desbiens, Natacha Genovesi, Natalia Masiak, Natasha Alexandre-Scott, Nathalie Beauregard, Nathalie Boutin, Nathalie Champigny, Nathalie Chassy, Nathalie Côté, Nathalie Croteau, Nathalie Dallaire, Nathalie Dumont, Nathalie Jolicoeur, Nathalie Lévesque, Nathalie Rouleau, Nazia Chahen, Nelly Bobishe, Nicky Robinson, Nicolas Maloney, Nicole Abi-Natted, Nicole Bloomer, Nicole Desgagnés, Nicole Dubuc, Nicole François, Nicole Lacombe Rocheleau, Nicole Morrissette, Nicole Sassoon, Nicole Tremblay, Nora Guité-Bujold, Nuran Demirel Keser, Odette Dugas, Odette Pinard, Olivette Dupont-Baril, Pascal Poulin, Pascale Lemaire, Pascale Thomas, Patricia Shandroo, Paula Laviolette, Pauline Berthiaume-Bouthillette, Pauline Boulet-Bellegarde, Pauline Bourrelle, Pauline Duval, Pauline Saint-Vincent, Pearl Lamarre-Rushford, Pierre-Luc Michaud, Pierre-Luc Rioux, Pierrette Charrette, Pierrette Faucher, Pierrette Garceau, Pierrette Pelletier, Pierrette Plouffe-Guénette, Pierrette Vaillancourt-Péladeau, Priscilla Décarie-Rondeau, Rachel Marcoux, Raymonde Poulin-Lapointe, Reine Lauzière-Pagé, René Lauzon, Rhéa Landry-Carufel, Rita Houde-Marchand, Rita Tookalook, Roberte Ménard-Dunn, Rollande Asselin-Beaucage, Rollande Vincent-Rinfret, Rosa del Carmen Yanez Cartagena, Rose Daigle, Rose Kaitak, Rose Lagacé, Rose-Anne Blackned, Rosilda Houle, Roxan Charbonneau, Ruby Ann Poucachiche, Sacha Vallée, Samara Foucault, Samuel Desormeaux, Samuel Shawn, Samuel Thompson, Sandra Gaudet, Santino d'Intino, Sarah Dutil-Coculuzzi, Sarah Gagnon, Scott MacCormack, Sébastien Fugues, Seneca Lapointe, Shade Durand, Shanmatie Dookie, Shaun Birch, Sidney Normandin, Skyler Hallock-Marchand, Solange Bérubé-Guay, Solange Lelièvre, Sonia Pelletier, Sonia Raymond, Sophie Champagne, Sophie Gervais, Stéphane Dion, Stéphane Guimond, Stéphane Houle, Stéphanie Ladouceur, Stephanie Pierpaolie, Steve Trudel, Steven Sirois, Steven Valentine, Sun Ok Hu, Suzanne Bédard, Suzanne Bergeron, Suzanne Chiquelho, Suzanne Grondin, Suzanne Jodoin, Suzanne Lecours, Sylvia Branco, Sylvie Boucher, Sylvie Chauvin, Sylvie Cyr, Sylvie Lefebvre, Sylvie Mireault, Sylvie Richard, Sylvie Saint-Onge, Sylvie Samson, Sylvie Théorêt, Sylvie Tétreault, Sylvie Viau, Talin Leylekoglu, Tamara Shaikh, Tanya Buschman, Tanya Melzer, Tanya Pinette, Tara Manning, Teresinha Ng, Theresa Shanahan Litzak, Theresa Luca, Thérèse Brière, Thérèse Gélinas, Thérèse Labelle, Thérèse Riel, Thong Van Luangduangsuthidej, Tina Diaz, Tina Laposta, Tobbie Turbide, Tommy St-Germain, Travis Paris, Tricia Shelen Pillingy, Tsao Chih Pan, Tung Than Nueng, Valérie Aubin, Véronique Lalonde, Vicky Michaud, Vicky Parent, Vicky Paquet, Vicky Roy, Victoire Cossette, Victoria Debes Ghazal, Victor Lemay, Virginia Pacuraru, Viviane Simoneau, Wesley Bauer, Widad El-Tomi, Wildrine Julien, William Lavallée, Yanne Cornu-Poirier, Yolande Perron, Youlia Ermenlieva, Yvette Charbonneau-Bonneau, Yvette Groleau-Gariépy, Yvette Latulippe, Yvette Martin-Chouinard, Yvonne Arseneault, Yvonne Bédard, Yvonne Duchesne, Yvrose Guilloux et Zacharie Hallé, au 6 décembre 2004.

Monday, December 20, 2004

This article in Vancouver's Province about the Robert Pickton trial (did I say, trial? What trial? We've been waiting over two years.) pretty much sums up the current shoddy, patch-work state of victims assistance in Canada:

Victims' families in the dark
Number of women on indictment not known

Suzanne Fournier
The Province
Monday, December 20, 2004

The families of scores of missing women still don't know if their loved ones' names will appear on the indictment against accused serial killer Robert Pickton, who is expected to appear by videolink in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster today.

They don't know what evidence police have in many of the cases, when the trial will be held or how they will afford, with little government support, to attend.

And some are upset that Pickton's trial is slated for a New Westminster courtroom that won't hold even a small portion of relatives.

"Some of the relatives, including myself, will choose to speak out loud and long if we are relegated to an observation room instead of a trial, and if the victims' relatives do not receive the emotional and financial support they have been denied so far -- and which they will need to attend a gruelling trial," said Sto:lo leader Ernie Crey, whose sister Dawn disappeared in 2000. The finding of her remains at the Pickton pig farm in Port Coquitlam was confirmed by DNA last January.

A trial date could be set today at Pickton's interim appearance.

"Could there be discussion of a trial date? Yes, that's obviously one issue of interest that will need to be addressed at some point," said prosecutor Geoffrey Gaul. "That issue might be addressed [today]."

Pickton, 55, was committed on July 23, 2003, to stand trial on 15 first-degree murder charges.
Prosecutor Michael Petrie confirmed on Dec. 15, 2003, that Pickton would also face charges in the alleged murder of seven more women whose names were included after the start of his six-month preliminary hearing in January 2003.

And last January, police confirmed they had linked the DNA of nine more women to the Pickton farm.

Cpl. Catherine Galliford of the missing-women task force said police are still processing 100,000 samples of evidence gathered during the 21-month search of the farm that ended in November 2003.

Lynn Frey, whose daughter Marnie disappeared in 1997 and whose DNA was found at the farm, says she is "astonished and disappointed" at the few resources offered to victims' families in what has become Canada's largest and most expensive criminal investigation.

"We are still Marnie's voice in this and I will fight till my dying day if need be, as we want justice and accountability for what has gone on with the police and victims' services as well as social services," said Frey.

"I am sure they were aware of many women just not showing up for their cheques."
Marilyn Kraft of Calgary, whose stepdaughter Cindy Feliks is expected to be among the murder charges, has called victims' services "woefully inadequate" and less than those offered to a high school where one student dies tragically.

Lynn and Rick Frey paid their own way to attend the preliminary hearing.

Kraft and Lynn Frey found that when they were emotionally overcome while attending court, no one stepped forward to help.

Some families are pleased with services offered them by two former Vancouver police native liaison workers, who are not trained counsellors.

Others say the solicitor-general must kick in more resources, instead of capping the financial assistance at $3,000 per person for all proceedings related to Pickton, including the six-month preliminary, meetings with police and a trial that could last years.

There are 69 names on the police list of women missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

P.S.... I've met Ernie Crey, when he says he's going to speak long and loud, people better get ready for an assault; they guy has cohones.

Have you heard of Lindsey Nicholls?

Lindsey Nicholls disappeared from Comox Valley, British Columbia over eleven years ago. Her mother, Judy Peterson is advocating for the creation of a national missing persons DNA data bank. You may be surprised to learn that such a tool currently exists in the U.S. (CODIS), but not in Canada.

Judy's proposed legislation (Bill C-441, called Lindsey's Law) would allow for the collection of DNA from missing persons or their close relatives for the purpose of cross-referencing DNA from crime scenes and unidentified human remains. This legislation will provide answers for grieving families, justice for the victims and put violent criminals behind bars.

What Judy is asking Canadians to do is really quite simple. Please take the time to write a letter to Canada's Minister of Public Safety And Emergency Preparedness, Anne McLellan (McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca) and tell her you support the creation of a national missing person and unidentified human remains DNA databank. Judy even has a sample letter all ready for you to fill out on her website.

For those of you who are technologically challenged, her is my letter (feel free to cut and paste):

-----------------------------------------------------------

The Hon. Anne McLellan, PC, MP
Minister of Public Safety
And Emergency Preparedness
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

Dear Minister McLellan,

I received a letter last week from Justice Minister Cotler informing me that you would be helping me in the future on my request for the procedures governing evidence retention in Canada. I thank you for your assistance in that matter and I look forward to your response.

My letter today is regarding another matter. As I’m sure you are aware, in 1978 my sister, Theresa Allore went missing for a period of five months. In the spring of 1979 she was found murdered in a ditch in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

I am writing to let you know that I fully support the creation of a national missing person and unidentified human remains DNA databank. Specifically, I would also ask that these two indices to be linked to the Crime Scene Index in order to identify victims and serial offenders.

This legislation is fully supported by victim’s groups, missing children organizations, RCMP and the Federal Provincial Territorial Ministers. The need is urgent and families of missing persons – such as the Petersons in British Columbia and the Surprenants in Quebec - have waited far too long. I know all too well the deep need to have family members returned home, and the importance of having justice administered, no matter how long the pursuit for justice may last.

As Minister of Public Safety, you have a responsibility to make this happen. Every day is painful for the families of the missing. They deserve the comfort of knowing that if their loved one is ever found, they will know.

I look forward to learning your plan to get this in place for the benefit of all Canadians.

Yours truly,

John Allore
Chapel Hill, NC
(Canadian citizen)

----------------------------------------------------------------

For more information on Judy Peterson and her efforts, please visit her website, http://www.lindseyslaw.com/ .

Friday, December 17, 2004

Well done, Hutch

Chief defends use of deceit

By Beth Velliquette : The Herald-Sun
bvelliquette@heraldsun.com
Dec 16, 2004 : 10:59 pm ET

CARRBORO -- Carrboro Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison on Thursday defended the tactics her officers used to obtain a confession from a man accused of a 1997 murder, saying that police are allowed to use deceit to get someone to confess to a crime.

"Courts have established that police offers are allowed to use deception in their jobs," Hutchison said in her first interview since The Herald-Sun reported the trick police used on Andrew Douglas Dalzell. "It is something that is used as a matter of routine in police work."

Carrboro Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison

Hutchison said she believes the fake warrant and fake letter her officers used pricked Dalzell's conscience, prompting him to confess to killing Deborah Leigh Key.

"In my opinion, his guilty conscience spun out of control, and it worked on him," Hutchison said. "That guilty conscience caused him to confess what he had done in 1997."

Carrboro officers arrested Dalzell on Sept. 9 in Stanley, about 150 miles west of Orange County, on relatively minor property-crime charges. But they didn't tell him the real reason he was under arrest or read him his rights. Instead, during the three-hour drive back to Carrboro the officers made Dalzell think they'd already filed first-degree murder charges against him and that District Attorney Carl Fox was vowing to seek the death penalty unless he immediately cooperated.

Dalzell then told police he strangled Key and took her body to Wilmington and put it in a trash bin, according to two Carrboro officers. Dalzell, 28, and Key, who was then 35, were seen together outside a bar in downtown Carrboro on Dec. 1, 1997. Key has not been seen since.
Officers continued talking to Dalzell -- whether they "interrogated" him is a matter of debate -- at the Carrboro Police Department before finally telling him he could remain silent and have an attorney present, his so-called Miranda rights. Dalzell then signed a waiver of his rights and wrote out a confession, at one point even using a computer to compose it, according to police.
Later that day, police obtained a real warrant charging Dalzell with second-degree murder.
Dalzell's attorney, Orange-Chatham Public Defender James Williams, has questioned the ruse and filed a motion to suppress the statements his client made to police.

A judge heard testimony from the officers and Dalzell's mother during a hearing in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday. Judge Wade Barber did not make a decision and has continued the hearing until Jan. 10.

Hutchison had previously declined to talk about what her officers did to obtain the confession, but on Thursday she said she was willing to discuss the issue because Barber had already heard their testimony.

Carrboro investigators had been working to find out what happened to Key for seven years, and Dalzell was always the prime suspect, she said.

When they obtained the warrants to arrest him for allegedly stealing items from Hungate's, a store at University Mall, the officers saw it as an opportunity to try to find out what happened to Key, she said.

"We knew it was a long shot," she said. "We did arrest him on legitimate charges. We had every right to arrest him. We created the perception that he was being arrested for murder."

Lt. John Lau testified Wednesday that he came up with the idea of making a fake warrant that said Dalzell was being charged with first-degree murder and a fake letter purportedly from Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox. The letter said Fox would definitely seek the death penalty against Dalzell unless he immediately told investigators where Key's body was.

Lau testified that he consulted Fox about his plan, and Hutchison said that she believed that everyone was comfortable with it.

On Thursday, Fox agreed that he had talked to Lau and knew that Lau was going to trick Dalzell into believing he was being charged with murder. Fox, however, said he did not know specifically that Lau planned to make the fake warrant and the fake letter. But Fox has already acknowledged giving the officers a piece of his office stationery for their plan.

Steve Stewart, Carrboro's town manager, stood behind Carrboro's Police Department and said Fox was aware of what the officers planned to do.

"Without going into detail, please be assured that our Police Department used methods in this murder investigation that were appropriate and within the bounds of existing law," Stewart said in a written statement.

"Further, the Orange County District Attorney's Office was involved through all phases of this investigation," Stewart said. "I have also discussed this matter with our town attorney, who is also comfortable with the methodology used in this investigation."

On Wednesday, Cpl. Seth Everett testified that when the officers and Dalzell stopped at a gas station on their trip back from Stanley, Dalzell began crying and said he didn't want to die.
Everett testified that he encouraged Dalzell to tell the truth. Dalzell then blurted out that he didn't mean to do it and that he had taken her to Wilmington and put her in a Dumpster.
Hutchison said she's used deceit herself in police work.

For example, Hutchison said that when she was a young officer, she worked as an undercover drug officer in Orange and Chatham counties.

"In doing that I assumed a different name and different personality, someone other than Carolyn Hutchison," she said. "The state provided me a driver's license with a different name on it, a different date of birth, and a false address from out of town.

"It helped me establish my ruse, my identity, as a young student from out of town who lived in this area," she said. "I wore spiky hair in a rattail, and I looked the part of a young, punky college student."

Some of the people who sold her drugs were convicted and sent to prison, she said.

"I think there is a parallel between that sort of deception and the deception we used in this particular case," she said. "The parallel is I created a personality and presented that personality ... to convince drug dealers to want to sell me drugs."

Hutchison said she used fake documents, like the fake driver's license, and no one ever questioned the use of those techniques in her and other officers' undercover drug work.

The chief also said her officers were not required to give Dalzell his Miranda rights before they actually did because they did not interrogate Dalzell or ask him questions about Key's murder until after they read him his rights.

Before that, Dalzell made what authorities call "a spontaneous utterance," she said.

"A 'spontaneous utterance' is not the product of interrogation or interview," Hutchison said. "It's something someone offers before they have been questioned, and that's what happened in this situation."

The officers weren't required to give Dalzell his Miranda rights as they rode back to Carrboro, she said. "We had no intention of interrogating him in that vehicle, and we didn't," she said.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Homolka Debacle

Relax people... this is merely a matter of Parole covering its ass because Karla refused treatment for the past 12 years.

Thu, December 16, 2004
Karla time bomb, parole board says
By KEVIN CONNOR, SUN MEDIA

TORONTO -- Karla Homolka is a ticking time bomb who will kill again, a recent risk assessment by the National Parole Board says. "The commission believes if (Homolka) was freed before the end of the sentence ... we are convinced you would commit an infraction that would result in the death or grave harm of another person," says the Dec. 12 assessment obtained by Sun Media.

Homolka, 34, waived her last chance to fight for early prison release and will serve out her entire sentence which ends in seven months.

"I can't believe she'll get out when they know she will kill again. It's absolutely beyond belief that our government places in jeopardy the lives of innocent Canadians," said Joe Wamback of the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation.

"We have seen so many murders by released psychopaths in this country. Why do we continue to make the same mistakes in the name of justice?"

The board says that although Homolka interacts well with other inmates, she is secretive and hasn't co-operated with reform programs.

Homolka has also refused to stop her correspondence with a male inmate at another institution in jail for "serious domestic violence."

"Maintaining this relationship gives us serious concern. You have a higher risk of repeating your past behaviour with contact with this prisoner," the board wrote.

Homolka has been refused early release by the board on three prior occasions.

Each time they said Homolka would repeat her crimes because she hasn't taken the program for sexual delinquents seriously and "the criminal elements of your personality are still present."

In the summer of 1997, Karla became the lesbian lover of Lynda Veronneau, who was chairman of the inmate committee in Joliette women's prison in Joliette, Que.

Det. Wil Tonowski of the Edmonton police high-risk offender unit has met with Homolka and says she has expressed interest in living in Alberta upon her release.

"We are keeping an eye on her if she is considering coming to Alberta. If the parole board believes she is likely to cause death, then we may apply a Section 8-10 recognizance -- a public disclosure of where she lives," Tonowski said.

"We would use the parole board assessment to apply for further sanctions."

Homolka received her 12-year sentence July 5, 1993, after pleading guilty to two counts of manslaughter for her part in the sex slayings of Kristen French, 15, and Leslie Mahaffy, 14.

Corrections Canada confirms Homolka's jail sentence expires on July 5, 2005 -- the same day her second victim, Mahaffy, would have turned 29.

Her sentence also reflected Homolka's involvement in the Christmas Eve 1990 drug-rape death of her youngest sister, Tammy, 15, at her family's St. Catharines bungalow.

ASSOCIATION DES FAMILLES VICTIMES D’ACTES CRIMINELS DU QUÉBEC

COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE

L’AFVACQ QUESTIONNE SÉRIEUSEMENT L’EFFICACITÉ DU RÉGISTRE DES DÉLINQUANTS SEXUELS

Le 14 décembre 2004 le parlement canadien adoptait la loi rendant officiel le fichier des délinquants sexuels.

L’Association est d’avis que cette loi constitue le minimum acceptable pour les familles afin d’assurer leur sécurité face à des criminels dont la réhabilitation représente de graves lacunes dans notre société. Nous sommes d’avis que cette loi donnera aux femmes et aux enfants victimes des prédateurs sexuels une impression de sécurité.

La loi telle qu’adoptée a deux graves lacunes. La première est sa non rétroactivité. En effet, une décision de tribunal devra obliger les prisonniers actuellement incarcérés à s’enregistrer au registre. Nous sommes persuadés que le système carcéral canadien, qui n’a pas démontré dans le passé une très grande performance dans le suivi post-carcéral de ces criminels, perdra les traces de plusieurs comme c’est le cas au Québec selon les statistiques. La seconde lacune est le fait que cette loi n’est pas du tout dissuasive face aux récidivistes. Nous demandons au gouvernement de rendre public les noms des criminels représentant encore un danger pour la société, tel que l’indiquait le rapport du bureau des libérations conditionnelles canadiens dans le cas de Bastien qui a assassiné Alexandre Livernoche. La question que nous posons au gouvernement canadien est celle-ci : Si dans le domaine environnemental, les lois obligent les compagnies à divulguer toute information sur leurs produits dangereux qui représentent un risque pour la santé des citoyens, pourquoi ne pourrions nous pas avoir cette même transparence quand un criminel risque la sécurité des citoyennes et citoyens de tout un quartier?

Également, l’Association demande au gouvernement fédéral de procéder immédiatement à la révision en profondeur du système de libérations conditionnelles au pays tel que promis. Selon nous, une enquêtes publique devraient être faite afin d’amener un éclaircissement sur toutes les erreurs administratives qui ont conduit à tant de crimes par récidiviste depuis les 10 dernières années. Les statistiques déplorables rendues publiques sur la performance des programmes de réhabilitation dans le système carcéral canadien exigent une responsabilisation plus grande de notre gouvernement.

Enfin, les familles du Québec exigent rien de moins que leur sécurité soit garantie face aux prédateurs sexuels. Nous demandons donc au gouvernement canadien de faire preuve de courage et de doter le Canada d’un registre efficace, transparent et préventif.

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu
Président
Père de Julie assassinée en 2002
par un récidiviste
(819) 570-0640

Admittedly, this is fascinating stuff, but why was this a public hearing?

Attorney moves to suppress confessions

By Beth Velliquette : The Herald-Sun
bvelliquette@heraldsun.com
Dec 15, 2004 : 10:05 pm ET

HILLSBOROUGH -- A Carrboro police lieutenant testified Wednesday that he tried to trick Andrew Douglas Dalzell into thinking he was being arrested for first-degree murder by showing him a fake warrant and fake letter from the district attorney threatening him with the death penalty.

And Carrboro Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison, who has remained publicly silent about the situation, thought the plan to make Dalzell think he could be executed if he didn't immediately cooperate was "brilliant," the officer testified.

Lt. John Lau told the story behind his plan during a pre-trial hearing on whether to throw out the confession Dalzell made in September about the disappearance and death of Deborah Leigh Key in 1997.

Dalzell, 28, faces a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the death of Key, who was 38.

Key was last seen talking to and kissing Dalzell in a parking lot near a downtown Carrboro bar on Dec. 1, 1997. Dalzell confessed to strangling her and dumping her body in a Dumpster in Wilmington, according to testimony from two officers during Wednesday's hearing.
Dalzell's attorney, Orange-Chatham Public Defender James Williams, moved to suppress Dalzell's statements, which include an oral confession, a handwritten confession and a typed confession.

The motion claims police didn't follow legal procedure when arresting Dalzell because they didn't tell him the real reason why he was being arrested, and because they interrogated him before telling him he had the right to remain silent and ask for an attorney.

Superior Court Judge Wade Barber didn't rule on the motion Wednesday, saying it was a complex matter. He asked Williams and Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox to submit legal briefs, and he continued the hearing until Jan. 10.

Key's sister, Susan Key Gagnon, sat in the front row with her husband and Key's mother, Barbara Key. Gagnon held an 8-by-10-inch photograph of her sister standing next to a Christmas tree throughout the hearing, hoping that Dalzell would see it. But Dalzell, who grew up in the Carrboro area, didn't appear to look at Key's family during the hearing.

The first officer to take the stand was Cpl. Seth Everett, who drove to Stanley with Lau and other officers to arrest Dalzell for three property crimes. Another investigator, Anthony Westbrook, had warrants accusing Dalzell of financial identity fraud, possession of stolen property and obtaining property by false pretenses.

The authentic warrants stemmed from allegations that Dalzell stole fantasy figurines, merchandise and a credit card number from Hungate's hobby shop, where he previously worked.

After arresting Dalzell, the officers put him into a police car, and Lau put a folded arrest warrant on the seat next to him. Even though Dalzell was being arrested in connection with the Hungate's charges, the warrant, which was a fake, said first-degree murder.

Lau testified that he came up with a strategy to make Dalzell think he was being arrested for the murder of Key. He said he instructed the other officers to tell Dalzell the truth about the real warrants if Dalzell asked.

But if Dalzell didn't ask, "we weren't going to volunteer it," Lau said. "That was part of the plan."
Williams asked Lau if he knew about a state statute that requires officers to tell people under arrest why they're being arrested as promptly as possible after they're arrested.

Lau replied that the law required him to tell Dalzell the reason for his arrest if it wasn't evident why he was being arrested.

"I believe he thought it was evident that he was being arrested for murder," Lau said.

Earlier, Lau said he consulted other officers -- among them Hutchison and the Carrboro Police Department's head of investigations, Jim Phillips -- about his plan.

"She thought it was brilliant," Lau said about Hutchison. "She thought it was a very good idea."
Lau also testified that he told Fox that he was going to draw up a fake first-degree murder warrant for Dalzell to see when they went to arrest him. "Our hope was that given the right set of circumstances, we could do this within the law and basically for him to give us a confession," Lau said.

Lau said he asked Fox for a copy of his official letterhead, but didn't tell Fox what he was going to write on it because he didn't know yet.

After arresting Dalzell in Stanley, Lau showed Dalzell a letter the lieutenant wrote on the stationery and signed using Fox's name. The letter said Fox was going to seek the death penalty against Dalzell and would not make any deals unless he led them to Key's body immediately.

On the drive back from Stanley to Carrboro, which took about three hours, Everett, Lau, another officer and Dalzell stopped at a gas station to get some fuel. As the other officers went inside to use the bathroom, Everett said he noticed that Dalzell, who had his hands cuffed behind him, appeared uncomfortable.

Everett said he received permission from Lau to move the cuffs. As Dalzell sat in the car, Everett saw that he looked very pale, and asked if he was all right.

Dalzell "started crying, talking about his mother and his family and his girlfriend," Everett said. "He stated his life was over as he knew it. He said he did not want to die, and I said I did not want him to die and that every life was worth a lot."

Dalzell spoke more about his mother and family, and Everett told him the best thing was to tell the truth about what happened. Then Dalzell made what Everett called "a spontaneous utterance."

"He stated he did not mean it to happen. It just happened. He took her body to Wilmington and put it in a Dumpster," Everett said.

After they got back into the car and headed to Carrboro, nobody spoke, but as they neared Carrboro, Everett asked Dalzell if he wanted to talk to him when they got to the police station, and he said yes, Everett said.

When they arrived, he and Dalzell went into an interview room, and Everett showed him the fake letter again, Everett testified.

"He started crying and talking about his mother and family again," Everett said.

Then Dalzell made a statement about what happened to Key, Everett said. After that Everett interrupted him and read him his Miranda rights. Dalzell signed a waiver saying he would agree to talk without an attorney present, Everett said.

Dalzell told more about what happened to Key, Everett said. Later that night, he wrote out statements by hand, and police let him use a computer to type a statement.

Later that night, Carrboro police charged Dalzell with second-degree murder.

Under questioning by Williams, Everett, Lau and another officer testified that they didn't tell Dalzell the real reason he was arrested until they took him to the magistrate's office at about midnight to obtain the warrant for second-degree murder.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Deborah Key murder trial update

Well this is a slightly better version then we had heard yesterday.

Attorneys Want Accused Murderer's Confession Thrown Out

WRAL News
UPDATED: 5:26 pm EST December 15, 2004
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. -- Andrew Dalzell admitted to police he killed Deborah Key.

"He stated, 'I didn't mean for it to happen, I snapped... I put her body in a dumpster in Wilmington.' " said Cpl. Sean Everett of the Carrboro Police Department.

But defense attorney James Williams claims Carrboro police got that confession through "unconscionable deceit." He points to a letter and an arrest warrant as proof officers crossed the line.

Officers testified in a hearing on Wednesday they used fake documents to scare Dalzell.

"I showed him a letter drafted and he started crying and talking about his mother and family," Everett said.

One was a letter that appeared to be from District Attorney Carl Fox. That letter said the state would seek the death penalty unless Dalzell told investigators where they could find Key's body.

They also showed him an arrest warrant with a judge's name on it -- but no signature.

In reality, the only official arrest warrant the officers had was for larceny, not murder.

But, they didn't tell Dalzell that.

Prosecutor Carl Fox points out that once Dalzell started to confess, officers read him rights and he never objected.

The judge in the case is expected to make a ruling in January.

Who Killed Theresa?