Crown seeks four years in jail for officer in corruption case
One of three Calgary police officers convicted in a corruption case should be handed a prison term of four years, a prosecutor said Monday.
Crown lawyer Julie Snowdon said Bryan Morton’s conduct in connection with a harassment campaign — on the part of a wealthy city businessman towards his former girlfriend — was a severe breach of his office.
Snowdon noted Morton sold information from private police databases and engaged in the ongoing harassment of Akele Taylor on behalf of her ex, Ken Carter.
“Offences involving police corruption are very serious and must be treated as such,” the Edmonton prosecutor told Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Bryan Mahoney.
Morton was convicted last April of four offences: bribery, unlawful use of a police computer database, criminal harassment and breach of trust by a public officer.
The former constable was convicted along with fellow ex-officers Bradford McNish and Anthony Braile in connection with the campaign against Taylor. Carter and unlicenced private detectives Steve and Heather Walton were convicted for their roles in a separate trial.
Snowdon said conduct such as that engaged in by Morton “undermine the public confidence in the police.”
The message to the public through such behaviour suggests “their services may be available for sale for those who can afford it.”
“The stability of society rests on the integrity of police officers,” she said. “The Criminal Code places great power in the hands of the police.”
Snowdon said issues such as the fact Morton lost his job and has suffered intense publicity over his conduct should not be considered mitigating factors that could reduce his punishment, noting the only mitigating factor was Morton’s previous lack of a criminal record.
Aggravating factors included the fact Morton accessed police databases for personal use more than two dozen times, she said.
Defence counsel Jim Lutz said jail would be warranted in cases where data leaks interfered with investigations or led to confidential police information being jeopardized, which isn’t the case here.
Lutz suggested a two-year conditional sentence to be served in the community, followed by three years of probation, would be a suitable punishment for Morton.
Meanwhile, Snowdon read in a victim impact statement provided by Taylor.
In it, the former Calgary woman expressed the fear she experienced while being stalked: “The depth of fear that I felt being at the mercy of the Calgary Police, not knowing how many people were involved, was endless.”