Four officers with the British Columbia detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will get their chance to appear before the top court in Canada to plead their case in a major misconduct trial, the Supreme Court announced on Thursday.
For a time, the police misconduct threatened to derail the prosecution of two men who were accused, and later convicted, of slaying six men in a gangland dispute in Surrey, B.C., a suburb of Vancouver, in 2007. But now, the fraud trial of these four officers is locked in confusing legal limbo, as dual appeals work their way through the courts.
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But thanks to repeated publication bans which cover most of the evidence in the case, figuring out the entirety of the accusations against these officers, and just what these appeals are about, is tricky.
“[Attew] partied with Sgt. Brassington and the witness, and engaged in sexual activity with a friend of hers.”
“In the context of the investigation of the gang-related homicides of six individuals, known as the ‘Surrey Six,’ four RCMP officers were charged with breach of trust, obstruction of justice and fraud allegedly committed in the course of their duties during the investigation,” reads a brief published Thursday morning by the Supreme Court.
It continues that the misconduct was “relating to allegations that they engaged in inappropriate conduct while managing a protected witness.”
The Supreme Court will not, it seems, hear the merits of the case, but instead some appeal relating to their criminal trial. VICE News reached out to the office of the B.C. special prosecutor assigned to the case but was told that the office wouldn’t be commenting or releasing additional detail. No additional information has been posted to the Supreme Court website.
Officers Derek Brassington, David Attew, Paul Johnston and Danny Michaud are all facing possible jail time over the allegations, which remain mostly covered by a court-ordered publication ban.
“Attew told her he was an undercover police office investigating the Surrey Six murders, staying at a high-end hotel at Whistler and snowboarding with gang members in order to target them.”
It came out in the murder trial, as the two accused tried to have their charges thrown out due to the impropriety, it was Brassington who is the centre of the allegations, having had sex with a key witness in the case.
When the three other officers — including his superior — discovered this, the court found they did nothing to stop it. Specifically when it comes to Attew, a staff sergeant with the RCMP, the court found that “instead of putting an end to it or reporting the misconduct to his supervisor, he condoned and participated in it.”
Over one weekend in 2009, reads one ruling, “[Attew] partied with Sgt. Brassington and the witness, and engaged in sexual activity with a friend of hers.”
When Attew made an advance with one unrelated civilian and she complained, according to the judge,”Attew told her he was an undercover police office investigating the Surrey Six murders, staying at a high-end hotel at Whistler and snowboarding with gang members in order to target them.”
The court found that the officers lied about the relationship and two had falsified overtime reports to cover it up.
“He endangered her, he endangered other vulnerable persons by disclosing information,” argued the defence team during the trial, according to the The Vancouver Sun, which covered the trial.
One officer told the court that the RCMP maintained a document on moving witnesses.
“It is apparent from the document that the strategy was to target those members of the [Red Scorpions gang] who might be vulnerable, such as girlfriends, and play to their needs and weaknesses (their need to belong, damaged childhoods, insecurities, and addictions,)” the court found. It goes on to add the document details “how they might be ‘impressed by the right cop’ if he had the right props, clothes and vehicle. “
The point of this exercise, the court found, “was to dismantle their relationships within the RS and replace them with new relationships with the police.”
All four officers were suspended from the RCMP.
Read more: Here’s the gear Canadian cops buy when they seize your assets.
The prosecution of the four men remains difficult to follow, as key decisions in the case have not been published, and the court has withheld information about the status of the case.
In May, the Vancouver Sun reported that the case was set to begin on September 25 — this week — before a jury in Vancouver, but delays frustrated those plans. A Crown lawyer told the paper that the trial had been delayed to “allow for the completion of the appeal proceedings.”
The prosecution said they would be seeking two appeals — one to the B.C. Supreme Court and one to the Supreme Court of Canada — that would be “significant.”
“The special prosecutor is not able to specify the legal issues involved as there are bans on publication in place,” they added.
The delays in this case don’t just affect these four officers. Jamie Bacon, the alleged ringleader of the gang and the one who police believe ordered the murders, won’t stand trial until March, 2018.
