White supremacist acquitted of assault
A judge has acquitted an admitted white supremacist of assaulting a man with pepper spray outside a downtown liquor store, after the alleged victim insulted German dictator Adolf Hitler, because he said identification of the assailant was not conclusive.
Provincial court Judge Bill Cummings said in his judgment Monday he had no difficulty saying he did not believe accused Kyle Robert McKee’s exculpatory evidence, nor does his evidence go anywhere near raising a doubt in his mind. However, he was troubled with Jeremy Martin’s identification of McKee, and said the supporting evidence regarding the Sept. 14, 2013, incident was lacking and weak.
Martin identified McKee in a police photo lineup and again in court during trial, but Cummings noted Martin was inconsistent in his evidence about others in the lineup and was confrontational with defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli during cross- examination.
“His testimony concerning his recognition of individuals in the photo lineup was both confrontational and inconsistent,” said Cummings. “The flip- flop with this aspect of his evidence is noticeable and concerning.”
Court heard Martin was walking on 12th Avenue and 8th Street S. W. that day when he saw a man wearing combat boots and a flight jacket bearing an emblem. He thought he recognized the dress from a prior involvement he had with groups known to him as “sharps” and “skinheads” and asked the man if he was a member of either group.
When the man said “I’m a skin,” Martin held up his middle finger and told him to “give my regards to Hitler.”
The man’s face contorted and he came face to face with Martin. Shortly after Martin turned and walked away, he was hit from behind by some sort of pepper spray. That was the men’s brief, only meeting.
Cummings, despite acquitting McKee of assault with a weapon and carrying a weapon dangerous to the public, had little good to say about him. The judge noted “McKee has a clear motive to lie by wanting to avoid yet another weaponsrelated offence of violence on the charges now faces.”
While the judge called McKee a “highly deceptive witness,” he was not on trial for his own belief system or for his association with those who may share those beliefs,” but that doesn’t mean he should ignore those aspects when assessing how he receives his evidence.
McKee earlier told Crown prosecutor Ryan Persad during trial, when asked about what he thought of Hitler, who was responsible for the murder of six million Jews, he replied “I think he had a pretty good platform that he ran on and got elected.”