I had the distinct displeasure of speaking with the Prosecutor in the Stuart Young Appeal.
Why do I say displeasure? Well, double talking prosecutors are not my favourite people in the world - and Mr McAnsh did not let me down in his double talk - these people are so skilled in concealing the truth and side stepping the issues - it's a disgrace - this is not JUSTICE - this isn't even LAW - this is a derailing of the rights and freedoms under our Charter. The right to equal treatment under the Law - what a joke our Charter is becoming....
Here is my interview with the prosecutor - short as it was.
Why do I say displeasure? Well, double talking prosecutors are not my favourite people in the world - and Mr McAnsh did not let me down in his double talk - these people are so skilled in concealing the truth and side stepping the issues - it's a disgrace - this is not JUSTICE - this isn't even LAW - this is a derailing of the rights and freedoms under our Charter. The right to equal treatment under the Law - what a joke our Charter is becoming....
Here is my interview with the prosecutor - short as it was.
City of Edmonton
Interview with Scott McAnsh, June 30th 2011
Background:
Stuart Young received two tickets regarding the noise emitting from his motorcycle.
After much research and collaboration with Liane Langlois, Stuart successfully defended himself and his tickets were quashed.
The City of Edmonton
Question:
Why was the appeal withdrawn?
Answer:
On the evidentiary record - there was a problem with the police’s information that was not well addressed in the record and the use of the technology. It was a problem with the total evidence in the file – the officer issuing the ticket was Cst Deputat
Notes: Although the prosecutor talked in circles he admitted that the evidence file was incomplete and there were problems with the information in the files and the prosecutors office did not feel that this ticket/file was the right ticket to appeal a decision on.
Question:
Will Stuart’s legal fees be repaid?
Answer:
No reimbursement of legal fees – the city does not do that
Question:
How is this decision going to affect other motorcyclists?
Answer:
It won’t, if they are ticketed, they have the option to fight.
So there you have it - straight (or sideways as I say) from the mouth of the prosecutor for the city of Edmonton - It cost Stuart - and every motorcyclist that chipped in for this appeal just shy of $4,000 just to have the city back out because - from what I can gather by reading between the lines - the cops messed up.
Their evidence was NOT solid, there were issues with how the test was done and how the evidence was recorded.
My personal humble opinion on this entire situation is as follows:
The City Prosecutors did not think a University student would be able to come up with the money to have a lawyer represent him at trial.
When Stuart didn't back out, the shoddy evidence and paperwork caused the Prosecutor to have to - this appeal should never have been brought forth.
In all I feel the city of Edmonton's Prosecutors/Lawyer is a coward and the Edmonton Police Services Traffic Division were sloppy in their paperwork and that this whole situation was vendetta driven - Stuart tore their original case to shreds and the only way they could make him pay for that was to hit him in the pocket book and deny the motorcycle community it's day in court.
I am sickened by the blatant tactics and although through Mr. McAnsh did his best to side step my questions and provide answers that were no answers - he did not succeed in hiding the motivation. He was very defensive and just kept saying there was a problem with the evidence.
I have a call in to Tony Caterina's Office and hope to have his feedback on what transpired very soon.
I also have a call in to Jane Batty - Jane has been very vocal about noise issues and I am wondering how come the Noise Snare is not being used or considered by the City - to that end I have also called counsellor Kerry Diotte and almost all of the counsellors and look very forward to their responses.
In my humble opinion - the city of Edmonton needs to step up and reimburse the legal fees that the motorcyclists of Edmonton and the province of Alberta helped to raise for Stuart - he's a university student and this has caused him and many others undue hardship as he put a large chunk of his own money into this.
The more the City of Edmonton baulks at using the Noise Snare and continues to hold on to the J2825 the more they look obstinate, arrogant, wasteful and discriminatory - the more it looks like the police services are running the city and the more it looks like they want to hold on to the motorcycle only stops to profile us - they don't see it but the motorcycle community feels that way - or at least the thousands I have spoken to about the issue do!
But hey - what do I know - I am just a grunt trying to get this issue resolved with some measure of fairness.
I will give you an update on the contacts if any that come from the various councillor's.
There is a ton of other news today so please - do yourself a favour - go read about the crashes, the politics and the news that might affect your world...www.beltdrivebetty.com is where the info is - we sift through the news so you don't have to!
Have a fabulous Thursday - a terrific Canada Tomorrow - I do not plan on blogging tomorrow unless of course something deeply important comes up...
The next time I write will be to kick off my Share the Road - Share the Ride, Motorcycle Awareness Conga on Monday.
Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider
www.beltdrivebetty.com
www.bustedknucklechronicles.com
So there you have it - straight (or sideways as I say) from the mouth of the prosecutor for the city of Edmonton - It cost Stuart - and every motorcyclist that chipped in for this appeal just shy of $4,000 just to have the city back out because - from what I can gather by reading between the lines - the cops messed up.
Their evidence was NOT solid, there were issues with how the test was done and how the evidence was recorded.
My personal humble opinion on this entire situation is as follows:
The City Prosecutors did not think a University student would be able to come up with the money to have a lawyer represent him at trial.
When Stuart didn't back out, the shoddy evidence and paperwork caused the Prosecutor to have to - this appeal should never have been brought forth.
In all I feel the city of Edmonton's Prosecutors/Lawyer is a coward and the Edmonton Police Services Traffic Division were sloppy in their paperwork and that this whole situation was vendetta driven - Stuart tore their original case to shreds and the only way they could make him pay for that was to hit him in the pocket book and deny the motorcycle community it's day in court.
I am sickened by the blatant tactics and although through Mr. McAnsh did his best to side step my questions and provide answers that were no answers - he did not succeed in hiding the motivation. He was very defensive and just kept saying there was a problem with the evidence.
I have a call in to Tony Caterina's Office and hope to have his feedback on what transpired very soon.
I also have a call in to Jane Batty - Jane has been very vocal about noise issues and I am wondering how come the Noise Snare is not being used or considered by the City - to that end I have also called counsellor Kerry Diotte and almost all of the counsellors and look very forward to their responses.
In my humble opinion - the city of Edmonton needs to step up and reimburse the legal fees that the motorcyclists of Edmonton and the province of Alberta helped to raise for Stuart - he's a university student and this has caused him and many others undue hardship as he put a large chunk of his own money into this.
The more the City of Edmonton baulks at using the Noise Snare and continues to hold on to the J2825 the more they look obstinate, arrogant, wasteful and discriminatory - the more it looks like the police services are running the city and the more it looks like they want to hold on to the motorcycle only stops to profile us - they don't see it but the motorcycle community feels that way - or at least the thousands I have spoken to about the issue do!
But hey - what do I know - I am just a grunt trying to get this issue resolved with some measure of fairness.
I will give you an update on the contacts if any that come from the various councillor's.
There is a ton of other news today so please - do yourself a favour - go read about the crashes, the politics and the news that might affect your world...www.beltdrivebetty.com is where the info is - we sift through the news so you don't have to!
Have a fabulous Thursday - a terrific Canada Tomorrow - I do not plan on blogging tomorrow unless of course something deeply important comes up...
The next time I write will be to kick off my Share the Road - Share the Ride, Motorcycle Awareness Conga on Monday.
Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider
www.beltdrivebetty.com
www.bustedknucklechronicles.com
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