2015-11-30 Travis Vader's lawyer to grill RCMP, Crown about handling of McCann murder case | CBC News
Published by Bretton McCann,
Travis Vader has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of an Alberta couple. His lawyer will be in court in Edmonton this week, and is expected to grill the RCMP and chief Crown prosecutor about the way the case was handled. (CBC)
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Criminal lawyer Brian Beresh is prepared to go on the attack this week in an Edmonton courtroom on behalf of his client, Travis Vader, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the case of a missing Alberta couple.
Lyle, 78, and Marie McCann, 77, of St. Albert disappeared in July 2010 and their bodies have never been found.
Beresh will grill the RCMP and the chief Crown prosecutor, Michelle Doyle, about the way they handled the case.
He is expected to ask for a judicial stay of proceedings, citing an abuse of process by the Crown.
A mountain of evidence has been gathered by the Mounties. More than 600 investigators have worked on the file. There are tens of thousands of pages of disclosure.
But the Crown now admits the reason it asked for a stay of proceedings on the murder charges in March 2014 on the eve of the trial was because Mounties discovered a lot of the evidence wasn't passed along to the Crown or the defence.
Crown looks to blame RCMP
According to submissions filed last week by both sides, it appears the Crown is prepared to place all the blame on the RCMP.
The brief states: "Ms. Doyle elected to enter a stay of proceedings as opposed to making an application for adjournment because she had effectively lost confidence in the RCMP getting full disclosure to her in a timely manner."
The Crown's brief uses the description "disclosure fiasco," and admits the disclosure issues "are egregious and cannot be condoned."
The document also reveals the sergeant in charge of the investigation "spent virtually 10 to 12 hours a day trying to put this derailed disclosure train back on the tracks."
Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson is now assigned to this case, replacing Doyle, who has been promoted to chief Crown prosecutor.
Finlayson writes in his brief that major changes have since been made within the RCMP to fix "the poor disclosure practices of the police."
Mounties have now moved the Major Case units from various detachments to one centralized unit in Edmonton. RCMP have also hired more support staff to assist investigators with the disclosure process.
Defence lawyer Brian Beresh has been openly critical of the Crown and RCMP.
Evidence 'shoddily gathered'
When the charges were stayed in March 2014, Beresh said the evidence was "shoddily gathered and it was a bunch of strings that were never tied together."
He added, "I'm also amazed at how poorly the information was provided to the defence."
He will argue the judge should impose a stay of proceedings to "protect the fairness of an accused's trial and/or to protect the integrity of the justice system."
Beresh claims Vader's charter rights have been clearly violated through the delays and lack of timely disclosure.
If Beresh's bid to get the charges thrown out fails, he wants the judge to stop the Crown from making any use of any evidence or materials gathered or not disclosed after the first stay of proceedings was entered in March 2014.
That would include two interviews RCMP conducted with Vader in December 2014 after the murder charges were recommenced.
Fascinating glimpse into details of case
While the actions of the Crown and the RCMP will be open for attack this week, the materials filed last week with the court provide a fascinating glimpse into some details of the police investigation never heard before.
There was an undercover surveillance operation the Crown admits "didn't result in any meaningful evidence but still should have been disclosed."
There were wiretaps, an undercover operation involving Vader and his sister, plus payments made to an agent who was a potential Crown witness.
The Crown's brief also reveals that after the March 2014 stay of proceedings, RCMP essentially conducted no further investigation into the murders other than checking tips that came in.
Mounties obtained a tracking warrant to put on Vader's vehicle in May 2014, but never used it because he was still in custody on other charges.
The final decision in the case rests with Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Denny Thomas.
He will have to decide if there's been an abuse of process and if the first-degree murder trial should proceed next March.
And if it does go ahead, he must decide what evidence can be presented at trial.
The Crown insists its actions have been "laudable," and that all steps taken were done to protect the justice system and Vader's right to a fair trial.
The defence argues this is a clear case of the Crown unfairly asking for a stay and an abuse of process.
The hearing starts Monday and is scheduled to go all week.
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- 65 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
- Canuck47
A good defence lawyer will do, and is required to do, whatever is necessary exclusively on behalf of his client. It would appear Mr. Beresh is doing exactly that.
- 1 day ago
- Likes18181818
- stillnojustice
@One voice
Any defence lawyer that defends a client that he KNOWS his client is guilty of the crime he charged with and knows the evidence is overwhelming and will end in the a conviction of his client, is guilty of fraud.
- 21 hours ago
- Likes0000
- Kensington 1
I would like to see someone in the justice system finally stand up and defend the quality of evidence against the accused. It must be very compelling if the Crown has gone this far.
- 1 day ago
- Likes17171717
- redbrew
@Kensington 1
Loose;y gathered and not tied together,no further investigation into other suspects ? I want to see the murders caught as well as anyone but if our national police force can behave no better than keystone cops I for one want to be sure the rif=ght person is convicted.
- 22 hours ago
- Like1111
- Fernhill
@Kensington 1 - it's not... they had zip.. that's why they stayed the charges in the first place...hoping that some of their stings and payments to "informants" would turn up something ... but they got nothing. It's been a stitch-up since the beginning
- 20 hours ago
- Likes0000
- President Trump
1) While Travis Vader is certainly not an upstanding citizen, it is questionable whether or not it can be proven that he is guilty of murder.
2) His rights were trampled on by the RCMP and then further abused by the Crown in reinstating the charges.
The charges will be stayed. This is how the system should work
- 1 day ago
- Likes14141414
- Ed Zachary
@President Trump
If you lived anywhere near him, I doubt you'd have such a cavalier attitude about this.
- 1 day ago
- Like1111
- Fernhill
@Ed Zachary there are lots of bad people in the world. Our last Justice Minister, Denis was involved in a protracted and sometimes violent domestic issue, that resulted in charges and counter claims and all sorts of issues.
Wouldn't have wanted to be his neighbour either. But Jonathan Dennis a free man today, as he was not convicted of any crime, despite all the flying accusations.
Same should apply to Mr. Vader.
- 20 hours ago
- Likes0000
- Tony
Is this guy guilty or not?...the Mounties have dragged this fellow in and out of prison forever!...if the Crown or the RCMP cannot prove this guy is guilty then they have to let him go!...too much secrecy about this case!...sad for the victims and family but the cops have also ruined this persons life!...guilty or not?
- 1 day ago
- Likes14141414
- Dr. Grand
@katess I hear these stories as well as brutality all the time. Anyone else sick and tired of hearing "it's just a few bad apples". Let us remember the whole quote not part of it. " A few bad apples spoil the whole basket". Until police break down the blue wall of silence and actually charge and the legal system convict police doing bad beahviour, as well as hold them to a higher not lower standard, our police forces can not restore the honor, respect and trust they once had. As far as I am... » more
- 1 day ago
- Likes6666
- Reckoning
This legal yo-yo with Vader must be hard on the McCann family. If it were me, above all else, I'd just want to know what happened to the two missing.
- 1 day ago
- Likes12121212
- John LeBlanc
What if he is not guilty there is a murderer still out there
- 1 day ago
- Likes11111111
- Step Back-Content disabled.
it sounds to me like the blame game while promotions are handed out to the incapable, justice must be served to put to rest what happened to this poor family. Time to work together people, this killer needs to go to jail for a long long time
- 1 day ago
- Likes9999
- RogerRoger
@Step Back-Content disabled. Same Doodoo different day.
They messed up the pig farmer too for way too long.
Put some speed on it but make sure it's right.
- 1 day ago
- Likes6666
- Buffalojump
@RogerRoger
Justice for people like the pig farmer which ensured he was well represented and his defense paid by you the taxpayer.
The legal system is to ensure the accused and convicted rights are ensured and little regard is given for the victims. Thus the legal system perpetuated by lawyers and judges.
- 1 day ago
- Like1111
- ⚔
Same place as where there's been another family murdered last night. Coincidence?
Three family members murdered from the Peers / Niton Junction area again. 20 kms apart and about population total of both towns Maybe 300 people.
Maybe the police should do a little more investagation.
- 1 day ago
- Likes8888
- thinkabtit
Thank goodness we don't have capital punishment, one never knows when one could be innocent .
- 1 day ago
- Likes7777
- jandowae
Vadar looks and sounds like bad news, but that doesn't make him guilty.
I think the RCMP and the crown prosecutors really blew this one and are trying by any means possible to cover up that fact.
Using procedural tactics is in the same vein of face saving by the crown as was the way the boneheads who helped Rosco at Mayerthorpe were dumped on with the maximum possible penalties.
Though I readily admit it isn't as serious an offence, but after Goldring managed to beat the refusing to blow...
» more
- 1 day ago
- Likes6666
- thinkabtit
@jandowae
Further , those two boys from the Mayerthorpe incident were simply a cover for the stupidity of the rcmp .
- 1 day ago
- Likes10101010
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