Man convicted of prison riot death could be named a dangerous offender

Six months after that, the two assault charges were brought forward and, as part of the ongoing court proceedings, the Crown has said they will seek to have him declared a dangerous offender.

Watetch said he feels he was deceived by prosecuting agencies, such as the police and the Crown, when he pleaded guilty to the second manslaughter charge.

“I would not have made the decision to change my plea from not guilty to guilty to a lesser-included offence if I had known that there were outstanding or pending charges as I was very concerned about the Crown seeking a Part XXIV application for either Dangerous Offender status or Long-Term Offender status,” Watech said in a statement that is included as part of the Appeal court decision.

During the RCMP investigation of the assault charges, the investigating officer was delayed after being assigned to a major case involving a drive-by shooting in another community.

It took five months for him to lay the charges, and in that time, Watech made his guilty plea thinking he had no other pending criminal cases.

The provincial court judge found there was no intent to deprive him of his charter rights but that his case had been jeopardized by the delay.

“Until any information is sworn and a court date obtained, a check on the system would reveal no outstanding charges, especially if no arrest warrant exists. Nobody lied to or deliberately misled Mr. Watetch. Rather, this was a case of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing,” read the provincial court judgement.

Still, the judge cited the incident as a too-frequent case of accused people appearing before the court with no idea of the charges until the judge reads them out.

She also said the 23-day delay in laying the charge was too long because during the wait the time to appeal the manslaughter conviction ran out.

Because of that, the judge ruled that Watetch’s charter rights were violated in two areas and the best way to remedy the situation was to exclude all recognition evidence in the assault trial. He was not convicted as a result.

The Crown appealed.

On Aug. 10, the Court of Appeal said the provincial court ruling was erroneous and ordered a new trial on the assault charges.

“The trial judge said Mr. Watetch had been prejudiced because he had not been able to consult with counsel before his first court appearance. This may be true, but it hardly represents anything of consequence,” wrote Judge C.J.S. Richards for the Appeal Court in a unanimous decison.

A ruling that Watetch had faced an unreasonable delay was also overruled by the appellate court.

“The trial judge also found that Mr. Watetch’s right under s. 11(a) of the charter to be informed of a charge without unreasonable delay had been violated. By way of a remedy, the trial judge ordered that all ‘recognition evidence’ should be excluded,” reads the judgement.

The Appeal Court said that alone does not justify acquittal.

Watetch will next appear in Prince Albert Provincial Court on Sept. 14.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertNOW

by Susan McNeil

Man convicted of prison riot death could be named a dangerous offender

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