Violent sexual offender seeks records on victim for mistrial application
A man convicted of a violent sexual assault on a woman who was jailed alongside him during the court proceedings is making an application to access records his lawyer argues will undermine the victim’s credibility and reliability.
Lance David Blanchard was convicted in December of aggravated assault, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, aggravated sexual assault, possession of a weapon, threatening to cause death or bodily harm and breach of recognizance.
Although Blanchard has already been found guilty — and had an application rejected to have his convictions stayed based on the way he has been treated as an inmate at the Edmonton Remand Centre — his lawyer, Tom Engel, is seeking access to records about the victim that Engel claims will support the mistrial application.
The development is just the latest twist in the high-profile case.
In early June, Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley announced a third-party investigation into the way Blanchard’s victim — a young indigenous woman who was homeless at the time — was treated during the preliminary hearing.
The victim, whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban, was held in custody for five nights and shackled while in court to give testimony during a preliminary hearing into the case in 2015.
The woman was killed in an
unrelated case before the matter could go to trial.
Engel made the application for disclosure Friday, ahead of a hearing Monday before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin to discuss Blanchard’s upcoming dangerous offender hearing, scheduled to begin in early 2018.
In the application, Engel requests records of criminal investigations from both the Edmonton Police Service and the Edmonton Crown prosecutors’ office that he said relate to the victim.
He said he is pursuing a mistrial regardless of whether the records are disclosed. The court will review the records first and decide whether or not to release them to Engel.
Engel said such applications are “extremely rare,” and he’s only made a handful during his career, none of which was successful.
“I want to see if I can get disclosure of all those records in order to make the mistrial application,” he said Monday. “I’m expecting there may be some evidence in those records that would support the mistrial application.”
He said some of the information he’s relying on to make the application only came to light in April, after Blanchard was found guilty.
Crown prosecutor Patricia Innes is seeking to have Blanchard declared a dangerous offender, which could result in him receiving an indeterminate sentence.
Blanchard has a long history of violent and sexual offences.
The Crown prosecutors’ office declined to comment.
The applications for disclosure are set to be back before the court June 26 and the later application for a mistrial on July 26.