Court Briefs: Guilty pleas entered for failures to appear in court

By Jeremy Appel on September 20, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

A man set to go to trial at the end of January on numerous weapons charges, as well as threats causing death, possessing drugs for the purposes of trafficking and mischief causing damage to property, pled guilty Wednesday to two charges of failure to appear in court.

Maxime Oliver Phillipe, 32, appeared in Medicine Hat Provincial Court via closed-circuit TV from the local remand centre.

He faced three charges of failure to appear in court, but the third was dropped as a result of his guilty plea.

In a joint submission between the Crown and defence lawyer William Wister, Phillipe was fined $250 and received an additional two days in jail for each breach.

Phillipe’s trial is scheduled for Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.

He faces nine charges excluding the three breaches — one count each of unauthorized possession of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon, threats causing death, possessing a dangerous weapon, careless use or storage of a firearm, possession for purposes of trafficking, using a firearm in commission of an offence, mischief with damage under $5,000 and possessing body armour.

Pleas delayed due to technical issues

A man facing 16 charges, including two counts of mischief causing damage, five counts of fraud under $5,000 and one count of falsely pulling a fire alarm, had his pleas delayed a single day due to technical difficulties.

Jasen Palmer, 42, was supposed to enter his pleas Wednesday via CCTV from the Medicine Hat Remand Centre, but the Crown prosecutor was unable to access Palmer’s file on his computer.

As a result, defence lawyer Bradley Bellmore requested a one-day adjournment.

Palmer is slated to enter his pleas accompanied by a joint statement of facts from the Crown and defence today.