Snelgrove not guilty
RNC officer accused of sexual assaulting woman while on duty acquitted by jury
for Doug and his wife and their family and they’re just very relieved that it’s over,” Snelgrove’s lawyer, Randy Piercey, told reporters. “I think it was a lawful and proper verdict. And now he has the opportunity to move on with his life.”
Piercey — who was co-counsel with Jon Noonan — said once they got outside the courtroom with Snelgrove, “He cried, he hugged me and he said thank you.”
It took the six men and five women — one juror was dismissed on the opening day of the trial — a day and a half to render their verdict. They were sequestered Thursday afternoon after Justice Valerie Marshall instructed them on the law, and they began deliberating at 2 p.m. The verdict was rendered just before 7 p.m. Friday.
In a case that triggered much reaction from women’s groups and others in the community, the issue centred around consent and whether the 21-yearold woman, who got a ride home with Snelgrove in the early morning hours of Dec. 21, 2014, voluntarily agreed to have sex with him in her apartment.
The woman testified in the week-and-a-half-long trial that she was drunk that night after partying at a downtown bar and couldn’t recall if she gave consent. She said she passed out and when she came to, Snelgrove was having anal sex with her.
However, Snelgrove, 39, testified that the woman appeared fine when she approached the car, and he didn’t see any signs of intoxication. He said he’s not sure why he went inside her place, but that when he did, she made sexual advances and he responded. He said he believed the sex was consensual and that the woman was capable of giving consent.
In her instruction to jurors Thursday, Marshall said that in order to convict, they must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman’s voluntary agreement was invalid because she was incapable of consenting, as she was unconscious.
“The law is: mere drunkenness is not the equivalent of being incapable …,” she said.
Piercey’s response to that after the verdict was, “That’s clearly the law. If people had got drunk, had sex and got charged with it, well, a lot of charges would come.”
When asked what he would say to community groups that might be upset with the verdict, Piercey said, “Get the transcript of the trial. If you’re going to cause an uproar, come to the court and see what actually happened.”
It clearly wasn’t an easy decision for jurors, who seemed to struggle with a few issues.
They returned to the courtroom Thursday afternoon to ask the judge a few questions, and then continued discussions. After about four hours of deliberations, they called it a night just before 6 p.m. Thursday.
They resumed discussions 9 a.m. Friday. At 4 p.m., they returned to the courtroom to ask the judge questions, including if they could listen to recordings of the testimony of both the complainant and Snelgrove. The judge agreed. Jurors had to listen to the entirety of the testimonies, which lasted almost four hours. About half an hour later, they were in agreement on a verdict.
“It was horrible,” Piercey said about the wait.
“I thought there might be a dispute in the jury room and that a hung jury was a possibility.”
Piercey wouldn’t comment about Snelgrove’s future as a police officer.
However, in a statement issued to media, RNC Chief William Janes said the RNC would not comment publicly yet. He noted the Crown has 30 days to appeal the verdict.
“Following any potential appeal, the matter will be addressed through the Public Complaints Commission process,” Janes said. “The appropriate discipline under the RNC Act will be determined through that process.”
He said Snelgrove has been suspended without pay since he was charged in 2015 and will continue to be suspended until the Public Complaints process has been concluded and the appropriate discipline has been determined.
“I want to assure the public that we do not tolerate inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour by our officers and take complaints from the public very seriously.
“Our officers and staff work tirelessly every day in providing quality policing services in our community and I have tremendous faith in them and their ethics and professionalism.
“We will continue to work with the community in supporting victims of sexual assault and I want to reaffirm our commitment to investigating all allegations of sexual assault. We encourage any person who has been the victim of a sexual assault to come forward. All complaints will be thoroughly investigated.”