No grounds for murder arrest, lawyer says

Police did not have reasonable and probable grounds to arrest Robert Elliott Deer on Jan. 16, 2006, and they did not have grounds at that time to search his house or vehicle, his lawyer argued on Thursday.

Jim Lutz also told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Beth Hughes that without such grounds, all evidence obtained — including from an undercover operator placed in a cell at the arrest processing unit — should be ruled inadmissible at his first-degree murder trial in the shooting death of Jack Beauchamp.

Deer, 57, is accused of hiring Mohamed Ali Karim, 30, on trial for the same charge, to shoot the president of Morbank Financial over an $18,000 fee on a $1.2-million mortgage deal that did not go ahead.

The lawyer says police did not have grounds to detain Deer for uttering threats regarding a series of threatening e-mails sent to Beauchamp a month before his death on Jan. 16, 2006, because there was no immediate threat to the now-deceased man.

Lutz also insisted that at the point Deer was arrested for murder at 12:38 p.m. — more than four hours after the shooting — police had no evidence to link him to the homicide.

Sgt. Dave Jennings “said all police had on Deer was the threats. But there was a prolonged detention to elicit a confession,” Lutz said.

Lutz said the information to obtain (ITO) the search warrant of Deer’s home, his Hummer and his wallet inside the vehicle was unlawful, as police did not have or did not disclose sufficient information for a justice of the peace to grant it at that time.

“There was lots of information coming in during the day that doesn’t make it to the ITO,” said Lutz.

“They should say to the JP we don’t have Deer coming in and out of the building, just allegations of e-mails sent. But had the JP known Deer could not be placed at the building at the time, that could have changed whether the ITO was granted.”

Crown prosecutor Mike Ewenson argued police did have grounds to arrest Deer as there was a homicide involved.

“Police clearly have it on their mind the possibility of Deer being involved in the homicide,” Ewenson argued. “That’s within two hours of the arrest on threats charges.”

Ewenson says Deer is still in custody for the threats and that doesn’t prevent police from embarking on an investigation of the murder with respect to him.

Arguments on the admissibility of the evidence, part of a voir dire, continue today. Hughes is expected to rule next week.

Deer and Karim were previously both convicted of first-degree murder, but won new trials at the Alberta Court of Appeal.