Officer perjured himself in divorce battle: Crown

Suspended Calgary police officer Joseph Barton told a series of “clear lies” to gain an advantage against his ex-wife during acrimonious divorce proceedings, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

But Barton's lawyer, Cory Wilson, argued the accused perjurer simply made an “honest mistake” when he provided false information during his fight with his former spouse.

Crown prosecutor Vince Pingitore said Barton should be convicted of three counts of perjury for providing false information in two sworn affidavits and in testimony he gave before a Court of Queen's Bench judge.

“These are clear lies and they were clear lies in order to deceive the court in order to gain an advantage in his divorce proceedings,” Pingitore told provincial court Judge Harry Van Harten. “He made things up that simply never happened.”

The catalyst to Barton's legal troubles began Feb. 27, 2019, when his ex-wife showed up at his Airdrie home to drop off their daughter for a court-ordered parental visit.

But when Nikaela Lutzer arrived, they got into an argument over their daughter's necklace and she refused to leave the girl with him. Both then called the RCMP, Lutzer to claim Barton had stolen a necklace and Barton to ask police to make her comply with his parental rights.

When officers showed up, one found an envelope Lutzer had left on Barton's step indicating they had an upcoming court date of March 8.

Const. Nathan Fehr picked up the envelope and presented it to Barton when he came to the door. But after Barton failed to show up for the March 8 hearing, Justice Bernette Ho ordered him to pay costs of $500 and he decided to challenge that ruling.

In a March 12 affidavit, he said he had not been served Lutzer's application for him to appear in court, an assertion he repeated in a subsequent affidavit provided to Ho.

Then, on July 19, 2019, he testified before a second Court of Queen's Bench judge that when Fehr appeared on his doorstep and tried to hand him the envelope, his partner, who was Const. Nunzio Pasquarelli, took the envelope back and indicated it wasn't properly served. In his testimony before Van Harten, Barton said that at the time that's how he remembered the events taking place.

“What was his intent?” Wilson asked rhetorically.

These are clear lies and they were clear lies in order to deceive the court in order to gain an advantage.

“He made an honest mistake ... this (was an) innocent error,” the lawyer said. “We want his memory to be picture-perfect, or he's guilty of perjury.”

But Pingitore said the information Barton provided was so far from the truth it couldn't have been simply bad memory.

Van Harten will hand down a verdict Thursday.