Plea’s status could hinge on records from remand centre

By Peggy Revell on March 16, 2018.

prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell

Records from the Medicine Hat Remand Centre could come into play as a Seven Persons man looks to revoke his guilty pleas to serious drug trafficking charges.

At a court appearance Thursday, Crown and defence counsel for Aaron Grant Hotchen agreed to look into the records that could ultimately refute testimony given at a hearing in January.

Hotchen entered guilty pleas in September 2017 to drug trafficking and firearm charges, but prior to sentencing reversed course with new counsel, looking to have the pleas withdrawn.

At a January hearing, Hotchen testified about multiple complaints he had on how his former counsel handled the case. This included testimony that the night before guilty pleas were entered, counsel only spent five to 10 minutes with him at the Remand Centre to go over and sign an agreed statement of facts. Testimony from this lawyer said the meeting lasted 60 to 90 minutes.

Judge Eric Brooks adjourned to Feb. 28 to make his decision, and requested Crown and defence submit case law.

This was waylaid when, on that date, Brooks refused to give a decision and instead chastised defence counsel for including in their written submissions a photocopy of a letter from Remand Centre that could be considered new evidence. Brooks called this “trial by ambush” and “totally improper.”

Defence apologized to the court on Thursday. An application will be made to the Remand Centre to get possible evidence such as video, logs and sign-in sheets.

Brooks warned that going this route could be a double-edged sword for defence, as it could support either the testimony of Hotchen, or the former lawyer.

While the Federal Crown said they were willing to look into information that the Remand Centre could provide, they said the evidence could not be considered fresh evidence, as due diligence by defence counsel would have uncovered all this information prior to the original hearing.

The next court date for this matter is now set for March 29.

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