Hotchen takes stand once again at possession, firearm trial, describes how he got into drugs
By Jeremy Appel on December 14, 2018.
NEWS FILE PHOTO The Medicine Hat Provincial Courthouse is seen in this photo. A schizophrenic man who pled guilty to an assault that included throwing a paint canister at a woman’s head, was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019 to 150 days in jail.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel Aaron Hotchen took the stand for the second time Thursday in his own drug and firearm trial. Hotchen was arrested Oct. 22, 2016, after police executed a search warrant on an acreage near Seven Persons he was staying on, seizing methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, an unidentified white powder, a sawed-off shotgun, ammunition and cash. The accused initially testified at the trial’s voir dire portion, which was meant to determine whether the evidence gathered from the raid on the acreage was admissible. Judge Paul Pharo ruled on Dec. 3 that it was. Hotchen maintained Thursday he wasn’t a meth dealer at the time. “That was my tail-end,” he testified. “I was done.” Hotchen acknowledged he was a meth user at the time, which he had been since 2014, after his baby son died. “I didn’t know what methamphetamine was until my son passed away,” he said on the stand. At the height of his addiction, Hotchen said he was a heavy user, taking 3.5 grams, also known as an “eight ball,” every two days. The accused also admitted he was a weed dealer at the time. Under cross-examination, he said he would sell around two pounds per week. “Off and on for the past 30 years, I’ve been playing around with weed,” said Hotchen. He said his pot dealing was a result of him being unemployed and having difficulty getting financial assistance. Court heard over the past week more than 30 hours of phone calls Hotchen made from the local remand centre from October to November 2016, which defence lawyer Marc Crarer said contain “some pretty strong language.” In one, Hotchen talks about forcing one of his friend’s girlfriends into prostitution to pay off his debts. “Send her up to Calgary and tell her she’s going to start selling her(self),” Hotchen said on the recording. He also referred to “my little soldiers” in other calls, which Crown prosecutor Jeremy Newton says refers to enforcers, who use violence and intimidation to settle a drug dealer’s debts. Hotchen maintained his aggressive language was the result of meth withdrawal, as he had to quit cold turkey after his arrest. He testified he wanted to get his debts paid back to him so he could afford bail and be able to purchase items at the jail’s canteen. “You don’t realize how words can come back to haunt you when they’re put in a different context,” he said. Newton’s cross-examination of Hotchen continues today. 21
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For the life of me, I cannot think of a lower life form than a person who sells this poison (hard drugs). I can read between the lines and see the level of care and concern he has for his friends, male and female. Push people into prostitution, and thievery It is people like this who would stand outside a school where yours and my children attend, sell his junk in the hopes of increasing addition, and thus his customer base. Lock him up in jail and he continues to deal. There is no remorse here. I hope the sentence is in the neighborhood of 20 years. I see very little difference between this person and someone who commits second degree murder. If you are as tired as I am of all the thievery in this City, it is to support people like this. So he doesn’t have to get a legit job.
I was wondering if this goof was going to have jackets made for his Gas City Gangsters! What a complete goof and a clown! Have fun in jail goof!