Accused takes stand in drug, firearm trial

Two defence witnesses, including the accused, testified Thursday in the trial of Aaron Hotchen for allegedly possessing methamphetamine for the purposes of trafficking and illegally having a shotgun.

Hotchen was arrested Oct. 22, 2016, after ALERT, Medicine Hat Police Service and Redcliff RCMP raided a rural residence in Seven Persons he was staying at, finding 49 grams of meth, small amounts of cocaine and heroin, and a sawed-off shotgun.

The trial is undergoing a voir dire, or trial within a trial, to determine the admissibility of evidence gathered through the search of the property.

The owner of the property, Ken Munro, was the first to take the stand Thursday.

He alleges police never told him they were executing a search warrant on his property.

“I don’t feel it was right for them to go out there and do what they did without telling me,” said Munro.

He said police aggressively searched vehicles that were in a field on his property, where they found the drugs and guns.

“I’m sure they went through every vehicle out there,” Munro said, adding that there were about 150 of them, which he either intended to sell or use their parts.

Forty of them were permanently damaged, he added.

Under cross-examination by Crown prosecutor Jeremy Newton, Munro said he didn’t sue police for the damages.

Munro also testified he asked police to see a copy of the warrant, but didn’t provide them with any proof he was the owner of the residence.

“They didn’t ask for anything,” he said.

During Munro’s testimony, Newton noticed Hotchen was nodding along from the prisoner’s dock, which Judge Paul Pharo told him to stop doing.

Defence lawyer Marc Crarer said his client wasn’t attempting to guide the witness’s testimony.

“It’s one of his mannerisms,” Crarer said. “He’s a nervous individual.”

Earlier in the day, Hotchen testified he was mainly worried the police would harm one of his pitbulls when they entered the property, insisting he was unaware of the drugs and gun police uncovered.

“I didn’t think there was anything else that would get us into trouble, except maybe a bag of weed,” said Hotchen.

He testified that after he was cuffed, he asked police for the warrant at least five times.

“It’s going to be very hard for you to remember that because you were worried about your dogs,” Newton said, suggesting Hotchen’s concern for his pets was “burnt into your memory,” but not asking for the warrant.

MHPS Const. Chance Franklin testified Monday that he left the search warrant in his vehicle, but offered to show it to Hotchen in jail.

Franklin said Hotchen told him from his cell that he didn’t want to see it.

“To this day, I’ve never seen the warrant,” Hotchen testified Thursday.