Kidnapping charges dropped when key witness no-shows

Kidnapping, robbery and simple assault charges were withdrawn Monday against a Medicine Hat man after the main witness failed to appear in court for trial.

But Michael Anthony Orr will still be spending 20 more months in jail, due to guilty pleas to assault with a weapon, and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The joint submission between Crown and defence counsel came instead of a three-day trial that was supposed to run this week.

Original allegations against Orr were that he and another man kidnapped the victim from his residence, and took the victim to Orr’s residence. The victim was then allegedly robbed, repeatedly assaulted by multiple people, and held overnight.

Acting on an anonymous tip, police arrived at the residence the next morning, arresting Orr and two others. Police found 29.8 grams of cocaine at the residence.

But lacking the main witness on the first day of the trial, the Crown prosecutor withdrew the charge of kidnapping, robbery and simple assault.

Agreed statement of facts did not affirm the original allegations against Orr — although admit to him being a party to the ongoing assault against the victim, and pepper-spraying the victim.

Orr pled guilty to assault with a weapon, and received a six-month sentence for this.

He was also sentenced to another 32 months for a drug trafficking charge. He was granted 18 months credit for time served in pretrial custody, so has a total time of 20 months left to serve.

Two others have pled guilty to their part in the incident. Orr’s girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Cote, entered guilty pleas last August to unlawful confinement and assault with a weapon. She was sentenced to six months.

Orr’s roommate at the time, George Johnson, entered a guilty plea to one count of unlawful confinement in April, and received a five-month jail sentence.

While others are alleged to have been involved in the incident, no other charges were laid.