Judge rejects stay of case against man accused of seeking hit on police officer
A Montreal man charged with posting online ads seeking to have a high-profile Montreal police officer killed has been turned down in his request to have the charges placed under a stay of proceedings.
Anatoliy Vdovin, 48, faces five charges in all, including three alleging he counselled people to murder Commander Ian Lafrenière, the former head of the Montreal police media relations department, on three different occasions.
While working as a spokesperson for the police force, Lafrenière was one of its most recognizable officers because of the many interviews he did, for example, during student protests against tuition hikes in 2012.
In 2013, Vdovin was charged with one count related to an online ad he allegedly posted on April 4 of that year. But in 2015, while he was being investigated in a case involving firearms, the police uncovered evidence he allegedly posted similar online ads, in 2014 and 2015, offering $1,000 to have Lafrenière killed.
Vdovin recently filed a Jordan motion seeking to have the charges placed under a stay of proceedings, claiming it has taken too long for the Crown to prosecute his case. Last year, the Supreme Court of Canada set new limits on how long a person charged with a crime should be expected to wait for a trial. The limit for Superior Court cases was set at 30 months.
On Monday, Superior Court Justice Stephen Hamilton rejected Vdovin’s request after determining his case falls under a part of the Supreme Court decision that provides exceptions to the delays an accused should expect.
He noted that Vdovin has shown little interest in having his trial begin within a reasonable delay. Among other things, Hamilton said that, during a pretrial hearing held in December, a judge asked him, “Do you want to go to trial as soon as possible?” and Vdovin replied, “I don’t care.”
Vdovin’s trial on the charges related to Lafrenière is scheduled to begin, before a judge and jury, in January. His jury trial in the firearms-related case is scheduled to begin, before a judge alone, in November.