HAHN TRIAL
After deliberating Friday night, jury finds Christopher Hahn guilty of criminally harassing a judge.
A jury found Christopher Richard Hahn guilty of one count of criminal harassment following deliberations on Friday night.
The jury began deliberating just after 11 a.m. Around 5:30 p.m. they sent a note to Justice Ralph Ottenbreit, who is presiding over the trial, saying they were deadlocked.
After a dinner break, Ottenbreit told the jury that not reaching a verdict was an acceptable option, but asked them to go over the evidence again and give it another try. The decision came around 9:30 p.m.
Hahn was found guilty of harassing Justice Shawn Smith between October 2009 and April 2012 after Smith issued a family court ruling Hahn didn’t like. During that time frame, there were nine recorded incidents in which Hahn took steps Smith found disconcerting.
Hahn put up four different posters with accusations about Smith near the family law and Queen’s Bench courts in downtown Saskatoon, Justice Ralph Ottenbreit recalled in his instructions to the jury Friday morning.
Hahn also called Smith a “scumbag” in a document he submitted to family court.
In June 2011, Hahn confronted Smith in an alley between the courthouses as the judge was heading to lunch. Smith said Hahn tapped him on the shoulder, and when he turned around, Hahn snapped his picture. Hahn then approached the judge inside the restaurant, where he said his son was “f---ed up” because of the judge’s rulings, and that he would “settle with him, legally.”
The jury also watched video footage of Hahn showing up briefly at the family court office when he had no case before the court. Hahn said he was “looking for a buddy,” which Smith interpreted to mean him, Ottenbreit said while reviewing the evidence.
Smith ignored the first few incidents, but became increasingly alarmed and felt hunted after the alleyway encounter, Crown prosecutor William Burge has said.
Hahn, who defended himself at trial, said he put up the posters because he was frustrated by “getting nowhere” in court while attempting to get more access to his son.
He said he had a right to be at the courthouses, which are public buildings. He had never been banned from a courthouse, has no history of violence, and no criminal record, Hahn told the jury.
Hahn questioned whether Smith felt afraid, saying the judge never summoned any additional security to escort him to and from court.