Willie deWit’s naming to bench stalls assault trial

The trial of three Calgary police officers charged with assaulting a traffic stop suspect has been delayed because one of their lawyers, former heavyweight boxing champ Willie deWit, has been named a judge.

James Othen, Mike Sandalack and Kevin Humfrey were scheduled to face a five-day provincial court trial beginning Tuesday.

But lawyers appeared before Judge Bruce Fraser to say the trial couldn’t proceed, because deWit was appointed to Court of Queen’s Bench last Friday.

DeWit was world amateur heavyweight boxing champ in 1983 and 1984, and won a silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Sandalack’s lawyer, Paul Brunnen, told Fraser a new five-day trial has been scheduled for August.

Brunnen said deWit’s former client, Humfrey, has retained Vancouver lawyer David Butcher to handle the case.

Crown prosecutor Jim Stewart said he had offered to proceed to trial this week against Othen and Sandalack, but Brunnen and defence counsel Alain Hepner decided all three should be tried together.

Stewart wanted that information noted on the record in case the matter descends into a “Jordan squabble.”

Jordan refers to the case that led the Supreme Court to set hard deadlines for trials to be completed.

But Hepner said an August trial will be well within the Jordan timelines.

All three officers are charged with assault causing bodily harm in connection with an incident last July 30.

Othen and Humfrey also face two charges each of public mischief, and Othen faces an additional charge of assault with a weapon, a key.

Clayton Prince was charged with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana following the traffic stop, but those allegations were later stayed by the Crown.

Prince suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung and infected wounds.

None of the three accused were in court, and weren’t required to be since the Crown has proceeded by way of summary conviction instead of by indictment.

Summary offences have lesser maximum sentences than indictable ones, in this case 18 months jail instead of 10 years for the assault charges and six months for the public mischief.