Former police informant can’t find lawyer, judge told at trial

No witnesses testified and no exhibits were entered into evidence on the first day of the trial of a former police informant who was charged with drug and firearm offences after being booted from the federal witness protection program last year.

Instead, Regina provincial court Judge Pat Reis — who took over the case after a Saskatoon judge recused himself — heard concerns about Crown disclosure and ran a hearing to determine if Noel Patrick Harder is eligible to have a court-appointed lawyer.

Harder, who was a police agent during the massive organized crime investigation known as Project Forseti in 2014 and 2015, was arrested in Saskatoon on Sept. 25 and charged with 26 offences, including possessing a fentanyl pill and a loaded restricted handgun.

Details of the case heard at a bail hearing in September are not protected by the customary publication ban.

Speaking during the hearing, Harder — who has been on remand since his arrest — hinted at his potential trial defence by saying the firearm was given to him by RCMP officers attached to the witness protection program.

He contended that he has made every effort to find counsel since his previous two lawyers withdrew from the case, saying that the confines of jail, conflicts of interest with more than 20 law firms and fallout from his work as an informant, have made that difficult.

“I’ll take any lawyer at this point,” Harder said.

Crown prosecutor Melodi Kujawa argued that Harder has been without a lawyer since July 17 and did not make meaningful efforts to find a new one until days before the trial was slated to begin. She said he has been procrastinating.

“This is a man who’s been coming up with all kinds of excuses,” she said.

In summarizing Kujawa’s submissions, Reis boiled them down to a suggestion that Harder is attempting to game the system.

Court heard that Harder does not meet the financial criteria needed to retain a Legal Aid Saskatchewan lawyer, and that finances and the complexity of the case will be factors in Reis’s decision on the matter, which he reserved until Wednesday.

Harder also raised concerns about access to disclosure, including police car dashcam footage of his arrest, ahead of trial. Kujawa called his allegations “specious” and said Harder has had every opportunity to review the disclosure.

Reis’s decision will affect what happens next. If the judge grants Harder a court-appointed lawyer, the trial will be delayed; if he does not, it will likely proceed on Thursday.