Adam Strong (“Strong”) is charged and currently on trial for the first-degree murders of Rori Hache (“Hache”), who went missing in Oshawa during the summer of 2017, and Kandis Fitzpatrick, who went missing in 2008.
Last week, Superior Court Justice Joseph Di Luca dismissed an application made by Strong’s legal team requesting that self-incriminating admissions by Strong not be admitted as evidence as police had violated their client’s Charter rights when he was questioned at his apartment on the night of December 17, 2017.
APPLICATION TO DISMISS ADMISSIONS MADE TO POLICE
Strong’s application to the court, under section 10(b) of the Charter, argues that he was not given proper access to a lawyer before he admitted to police that there was a dead body in his residence.
Justice Di Luca ruled that Strong’s admissions to police were admissible at trial as they were made voluntarily and made prior to his arrest for murder.
According to the evidence at Strong’s trial, police officers approached Strong’s basement apartment after receiving reports from plumbers working on clogged pipes at the house when they extracted 10 to 15 pounds of flesh from the drain in the house. Officers asked Strong what he had been flushing down the toilet, at which point Strong confessed that there were human remains in his basement apartment.
Durham Officer Kevin Park testified at trial:
At first he kind of sighed and dropped his head. He said ‘OK, you got me. The gig is up. It’s a body.
Officer Park testified that when he knocked on Strong’s door he did not plan to arrest him, he was inquiring as to who the tenant was in the basement apartment and what the substance was in the clogged pipe.
According to Officer Park, as he was putting Strong in the back of his cruiser when Strong said, “I want to spill the beans”. He had already read Strong his right to counsel, advised him that he was under arrest for murder and cautioned him that anything he said could be used as evidence.
While Officer Park was sitting in the front seat of his cruiser and writing his notes, Strong said “If you want to recover the rest of her, she’s in my freezer. She’s buried, defleshed.”
Strong has pleaded not guilty and his trial is expected to last three months.
SECTION 10(B) OF THE CHARTER
According to section 10(b) of the Charter:
Everyone has the right on arrest or detention to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right.
Section 10(b) of the Charter contains two parts. There is an information component – to inform the arrested suspect that they have a right to a lawyer. And there is an implementation component – to take steps to put the detained person in touch with a lawyer.
The Supreme Court of Canada, in the case of R. v. Willier, set out the circumstances that evokes the use of section 10(b) of the Charter. Chief Justice McLachlin wrote:
Accordingly, 10(b) provides detainees with an opportunity to contact counsel in circumstances where they are deprived of liberty and in the control of the state, and thus vulnerable to the exercise of its power and in a position of legal jeopardy. The purpose of s. 10(b) is to provide detainees an opportunity to mitigate this legal disadvantage.
The Supreme Court case of R. v. Bartle, outlines the three duties imposed on police who make an arrest or detention:
- To inform the detainee of his/her right to retain and instruct counsel without delay and the existence and availability of legal aid and duty counsel.
- If a detainee has indicated a desire to exercise his/her right to counsel, to provide a reasonable opportunity to exercise the right (except in urgent and dangerous circumstances).
- To refrain from eliciting evidence from the detainee until he/she has had a reasonable opportunity (except in urgent and dangerous circumstances).
The right to retain counsel “without delay” is important as the detainee is to be afforded the opportunity to retain counsel no matter the time and place of the detention or whether he/she can afford to do so. The police must inform the detainee of the availability of legal aid and duty counsel to assist if the detainee does not have a lawyer. The police must provide the detainee with a free 1-800 number to contact duty counsel and with a means to do so.
The opportunity to contact counsel may not only arise at a police station, in some cases where a phone is available upon arrest and there is no reason to delay access, the police must allow the detainee to use the phone to contact counsel.
One of the key components of section 10(b) of the Charter, which was an issue in Adam Strong’s application to the court, is that the police must refrain from trying to elicit further evidence and undertake further questioning of the detainee until he/she has had a reasonable opportunity to speak with counsel.
We will continue to follow Adam Strong’s trial and will report any developments that occur in this blog.
In the meantime, if you have been charged with a criminal offence or have any questions regarding your legal rights, please contact the experienced criminal lawyers at Barrison Law online or at 905-404-1947. We have a reputation for effective results in defending all types of criminal legal charges. We offer a 24-hour phone service to protect your rights and to ensure that you have access to justice at all times.