Sergeant’s assault trial adjourned

Full schedules will force the proceedings into April

The trial of a Niagara Regional Police sergeant has been adjourned without having made much in the way of progress.

The defence for Sgt. Jake Grant and the Crown attorney are arguing the merits of an abuse of process application that asks Justice Cameron Watson to stay proceedings.

The court will pick up the abuse of process application, which was brought by defence lawyers Joe Markson and Kate Robertson, on Jan. 14 and 15, but that will push the trial into the next set of available dates, which isn’t until April 24, 25 and 26.

The Niagara court system’s bench is depleted with the retirement of three justices — Tory Colvin, Ann Watson and Joseph Nadal. Another justice, Peter Wilkie, is set to retire in April. Those that remain have even fuller schedules. Until reinforcements arrive, it can be difficult to co-ordinate dates between judges and the lawyers and Crown attorneys, who have their busy calendars.

The Crown attorney in Grant’s case, Shawn Porter, expressed concern about the emotional well-being of the victim, Bruce Love, 30, after a story in The Standard Tuesday reported on the defence’s view of Love’s conduct the night of the incident last February as well as his criminal record, which includes 30 convictions and 162 contacts with the police since 2006.

There is no publication ban on the trial. Both the Crown and the defence agreed a publication ban couldn’t be justified in this instance.

Porter told the judge that as a Crown attorney from Toronto, his only real contact on the NRP is Staff Sgt. Danny Savoie.

Savoie was involved in the investigation of Grant and is on the witness list and therefore excluded, by court order, from having contact with any other potential witnesses.

Bringing in a Crown attorney from out of town is standard procedure when regional police officers, who often work hand-in-glove with local Crown attorneys, are on trial to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Using an abundance of caution, Porter told Watson he would need that order temporarily lifted to allow Savoie to check on Love’s welfare.

“My understanding is Mr. Love is in custody, so he is safe,” Robertson said. “I not sure it has to be Savoie. I not sure it can’t be accomplished by a different officer, who is not a potential witness — if all that is needed is a welfare check.”

After the break, a solution to Porter’s problem presented itself. An officer from the NRP’s professional standard’s unit was in the back of the courtroom monitoring the trial. He used the break to offer to perform the welfare check on Love.

Monday, Markson told the court the defence believes Love’s testimony was for sale after he met with another sergeant at the police station in St. Catharines and offered to drop the matter for $1,000.

Grant is currently assigned to the quality assurance unit. At the time of the incident, the 15-year-veteran was assigned to uniform patrol.