Hit-and-run trial won’t get to hear confessions

Judge rules police failed to properly advise man accused of running down paper carrier of his right to talk to lawyer

Confessions made to police by a man accused of running down a newspaper carrier in Kelowna have been ruled inadmissible.

Police violated Donald Brodie’s rights by not properly informing him he could speak to a lawyer prior to interviews at the Kelowna RCMP detachment, Justice Martha Devlin ruled Thursday.

However, a letter Brodie subsequently mailed to Kelowna police from his cell at the Kamloops jail will be allowed into evidence, Devlin ruled.

The letter was “completely unsolicited (and thus) both voluntary and admissible,” Devlin ruled.

With the admissibility of the confessions to police and the letter now resolved in voir dire proceedings, Brodie’s trial on charges stemming from the Dec. 6, 2013, crash in which Steve Kania was badly injured will begin today in Supreme Court.

Brodie is accused of trying to evade police during a late-night chase through the streets of Rutland that ended when Kania, out delivering copies of the Capital News, was struck at the corner of Dundee Road and Dundas Road. Kania was in a coma for more than a week and suffered brain damage.

Brodie initially denied being the driver and police attention focused on another man, Nathan Fahl. But Brodie gave a TV interview, broadcast Dec. 19, 2013, in which he said Fahl was not behind the wheel and that the real driver would soon be identified.

The next day, police picked Brodie up for an outstanding warrant and brought him to the detachment for questioning. It was during this interaction that Brodie confessed to being the driver of the car that hit Kania, court heard earlier this week.

One officer bounced a tennis ball near Brodie’s head and sang I’ll Be Home for Christmas, actions that Devlin ruled were “completely inappropriate and unprofessional.” However, she ruled they did not constitute the kind of “oppressive” conditions in which Brodie’s confession could be considered to have been made involuntarily.

The fundamental problem with the police interview, Devlin said, was that the officers did not properly advise Brodie of his right to speak to a lawyer when conversation turned to the night of the pursuit and crash.

As a result, Devlin said, the confessions he made to police Dec. 20 and Dec. 21 are not admissible as evidence.

In February 2014, Brodie wrote a letter directly to Kelowna RCMP from his cell at the Kamloops jail. That resulted in a telephone call from police to Brodie. Devlin ruled both the letter and the details of that conversation can be entered into evidence.

Later in 2014, several Kelowna media organizations received letters from a man who signed his name as Donald Brodie, in which he said he was driving the car that hit Kania.

Outside the courtroom on Thursday, defence lawyer John Gustafson said those letters will be discussed during the trial.