PUBLICATION:          WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

DATE:                         2005.01.03

PAGE:                         B1

SECTION:                  City

BYLINE:                     Bruce Owen and Mike McIntyre

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bail courts need better access to accused's past

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MANITOBA justice officials are exploring how prosecutors can quickly get information about a suspect's parole history so they can do a better job of opposing their release on bail.

Senior Crown Don Slough told the Free Press his office is looking into how Crown attorneys can access an accused person's parole documents to see if they've ever had their statutory release revoked.

Slough said that check would give a prosecutor, and by extension the courts, a clearer idea of the suspect's tendency to obey parole or probation conditions, especially if that same suspect is applying for bail on another criminal charge.

The issue raises questions of how much Crown attorneys know about the background of suspects appearing in bail court, and how much a judge is told before they're asked to release an accused on bail.

The matter of a suspect's parole record was highlighted in a recent Free Press investigation that revealed a Manitoba judge had incomplete information about Jagjit Singh "Bobby" Saran that may have played a pivotal role in his decision to grant Saran bail in August 2003 after a shooting incident weeks earlier.

Saran has now been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his uncle in the Maples last month. He suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face and is in custody at the Remand Centre.

Judge Robert Kopstein was told by Saran's lawyer during the August 2003 bail hearing that Saran had been out on parole since 2001 and had made good use of his two years of freedom.

The Free Press later reported there were several ongoing concerns about Saran's alleged drug use while on parole between 2001 and 2003, particularly his refusal to abstain from using cocaine and attend mandatory drug treatment.

In fact, on two occasions in 2002, he failed drug tests administered by Correctional Service of Canada officials, and after two failed chances to go into drug counselling, finally had his parole revoked in June 2002, the documents say.

Saran was released again on statutory release two months later and was still on supervised release when he allegedly fired a shotgun toward three women in a back alley behind his Maples family home in July 2003. The pellets struck a vehicle but there were no injuries.

Those charges remain before the courts and have not been proven.

However, that incident prompted his statutory release to be revoked by the National Parole Board -- a fact that also wasn't conveyed to Kopstein when he granted Saran bail weeks later.

The parole documents are considered public information and were obtained by the Free Press within four hours of filing a written request.

The Manitoba public prosecutions branch is reviewing its own involvement in the 2003 case, including why it never appealed the bail release.

Slough said it's not known how much information can be shared between parole officials and prosecutors as the review has just gotten underway.

He said another factor is the workload faced by some Crowns, who handle dozens of bail applications a week and don't have the resources to appeal every one they lose.

The Queen's Bench bail review docket, which is held every Monday and Thursday, is filled with a large majority of cases initiated by defence lawyers who are taking another shot at getting their clients out of jail.

Slough said Crown appeals are usually only done in the most "extreme" cases, but his office may begin taking a more "aggressive" approach in the wake of the Saran case.

Another pressure is that any demand by the Crown for additional information, like parole records, cannot cause a suspect to be unnecessarily detained, said Slough . Under the 1971 Bail Reform Act, an accused has a right to a speedy hearing for a shot at pre-trial release.

However, the issue is another example of how much access Crown prosecutors have to a suspect's records and current criminal status.

On Oct. 13, Kopstein released three men charged with a gang-related kidnapping on bail after a Crown prosecutor said he had limited material on the case, including victim and witness statements and medical reports.

Specifically, the Crown said he had not been supplied any information by police regarding the two victims' injuries or how police found them after they were allegedly held for ransom for 48 hours during the Thanksgiving weekend.

The prosecutor, Gerry Bowering, asked for the bail hearing to be adjourned, but was denied by Kopstein.

Winnipeg police responded that "an enormous amount of information" was in their hands and should have been accessible to the Crown.

"It makes no sense if they didn't have it," police spokesperson Const. Shelly Glover said at the time.

Glover said the Crown had access to several different police arrest summaries, along with numerous pages of photographs of the victims' alleged injuries. There was also information about them being duct-taped and beaten while being held hostage in a city home, she said.

The Crown did appeal Kopstein's decision to the Court of Queen's Bench weeks later but lost, allowing the accused to remain free on bail.

The Crown's review of its policies on bail comes as federal officials mull over a November 2003 request by provincial Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh to revamp Canada 's bail laws.

Under Mackintosh's proposal, people with criminal records would be automatically denied bail. The rare exceptions would come when a defence lawyer makes an argument that a judge feels is particularly compelling.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Serious crimes committed after release

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Here are several examples of people on parole or statutory release who were charged with serious crimes shortly after their release:

Dec. 29, 1997 -- Jason Starr shoots grocery clerk Jeff Giles in the face with a shotgun during a hold-up. Six days before, Starr was locked behind bars at Stony Mountain . He was released under mandatory supervision because he had served two-thirds of an earlier sentence. He pleaded guilty Oct. 21, 1998, to second-degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.

 

Dec. 22, 2001 -- Robert Sand and his brother Danny, along with a female accomplice, gun down RCMP Const. Dennis Strongquill after a routine checkstop near Russell. Both had been released on parole weeks earlier in Alberta .

 

Danny Sand, 21, was released on day parole in September 2001 after serving 16 months of a two year, two-day sentence for a string of crimes, including trying to run down a police officer.

 

Robert Sand, 23, was released in November 2001 after serving three-and-a-half years of a seven-year prison term for a rash of offences, including fleeing an armed robbery where another occupant of his stolen vehicle fired a gun at police.

 

Robert Sand was convicted of murder June 13, 2003, and sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years.

 

Danny Sand was killed by a police sniper in a standoff following Strongquill's murder.

 

Feb. 22, 2002 -- Dan Courchene and a second man are implicated in the shooting of RCMP Const. Mike Templeton during a traffic stop outside Portage La Prairie.

 

At the time, Courchene is wanted on a warrant for failing to meet his parole officer. He had been sentenced to six years in prison for taking part in the 1996 Headingley jail riot and cutting off another inmate's finger. He was out on statutory release after serving two-thirds of his sentence at Edmonton Institution.

 

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison last May 25 after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

 

Co-accused Michael Regamy remains before the courts on the same attempted murder charge.