Habitual Offender Gets a Discharge for Assaulting Peace Officers

Charge(s):

CC: s.270(1)(C) – Assault Peace Officer x 2, s.129(A) – Obstruct Peace Officer x 2

Allegations:

My client yelled profanities at two peace officers at an LRT station. They confronted him and demanded some form of identification in order to issue him a violation ticket for employing vulgar language on LRT property. A physical struggle ensued, whereby my client was accused of assaulting the two officers. At trial, my client maintained that he was cooperating with officers and did not assault either of them. Instead, he claimed that he was the one assaulted; that he was punched in the mouth, by one of the officers, causing him to lose a tooth. The officers maintained that this occurred when my client’s face struck the ground during the arrest process. He was found not guilty of assaulting the officers, but was found guilty of obstruction (mainly, I suspect, due to his hostile and unstable behaviour on the witness stand).

Result:

In light of my client’s previous criminal record, which includes over 40 prior convictions, the Crown was initially seeking a period of incarceration. However, following the production of a pre-sentence report, and a psychological assessment, their position changed to a period of probation with many conditions, including community service hours and a fine. However, the court agreed with my submissions and granted him a conditional discharge, with no community service hours and no fine. The end result, upon the expiration of the order, will be no criminal conviction.