Not guilty last week, on trial this

Aaron Hotchen back in a courtroom Monday to start a two-week trial of meth possession and firearms offences; he’d just been found innocent of possession

A man’s trial on charges of possessing methamphetamine for the purposes of trafficking, as well as numerous firearm offences and breaches, heard from two police witnesses on its first day Monday.

Aaron Hotchen was arrested by ALERT, Medicine Hat Police Service and Redcliff RCMP on Oct. 22, 2016, after police executed a search warrant on a rural property near Seven Persons, where they seized 49 grams of meth, small amounts of cocaine, heroin and an unknown white powder, as well as a loaded sawedoff shotgun.

Hotchen was found not guilty last week on a single charge of possessing meth for the purposes of trafficking.

The Medicine Hat Provincial Court trial heard testimony from MHPS constables Chance Franklin and David Hrycyk, the first two of 12 Crown witnesses to be heard over the next two weeks.

Franklin and Hrycyk were present when the search warrant was executed on Oct. 22.

Franklin testified that police began surveillance on Hotchen on Oct. 6, based on source information he was trafficking meth. They hadn’t seen him at the property in question prior to then.

He said there were more than 100 inoperable vehicles in a scrap yard on the property, which is where they found the drugs and shotgun.

They executed their search warrant at 4:10 p.m. on Oct. 22, waiting until Hotchen was away from a trailer on the property so he couldn’t barricade himself inside, Franklin said.

Hotchen allegedly ran, while going into his pocket and throwing something out.

Franklin testified he drew his gun, telling Hotchen he was under arrest, after which the accused fell to the ground with his hands up.

Police began searching the residence after Hotchen’s arrest, finding a black bag with meth and other drugs, and the shotgun. The next day, police found $350 in cash.

Franklin testified he left the search warrant in his vehicle, which was near but not on the property.

Under cross-examination, Franklin said the gun was found hidden in a pair of beige pants under a GMC Jimmy vehicle.

“I didn’t look like it had been there a long time,” said the officer. “I would describe it as easily accessible.”

Defence lawyer Marc Crarer asked Franklin why the search warrant made no mention of a firearm.

Franklin said that although police had heard information there could be firearms on the property, they didn’t have reasonable grounds to put it in their warrant, unlike the meth.

“You made a conscious decision not to include ‘gun’ in items you were searching for,” Crarer said.

While cross-examining Hrycyk, Crarer went through his notes for the days he was part of the surveillance team and Oct. 22.

At 3:34 p.m. on the day of the warrant’s execution, Hrycyk wrote that he saw a man in a black shirt open up a black case near a hole they had seen people dig throughout the course of their surveillance.

Hrycyk acknowledged he didn’t know when the man came onto the property, since police were only watching what occurred on the property.

He testified there were too many people on the property to count.

“It was a bit of a gong show,” said Hrycyk.

Proceedings continue today.