Eight police testify in drug trial

By Jeremy Appel on September 21, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

Eight police witnesses testified Thursday at Medicine Hat Provincial Court on the first day of trial for a man who originally pled guilty to drug trafficking charges before requesting the pleas be withdrawn.

Aaron Grant Hotchen’s trial is for a single charge of possession for the purposes of trafficking methamphetamine, for which he was arrested in Bassano in July 2016 after police uncovered 141 grams of meth in a vehicle search following extensive surveillance of the accused on his way to Calgary.

Medicine Hat Police Service Const. Sean McWiggen, who was part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s special enforcement unit in 2016, testified he drew his gun on Hotchen upon arrest, around 1:13 a.m. on July 7, 2016.

Const. Mike Evans of the Winnipeg Police Service, who at the time of the alleged crime worked for MHPS and ALERT, testified the drugs were found in a water bottle on the driver’s side rear passenger’s seat.

In addition to the meth, police confiscated Hotchen’s cellphone and tablet, Evans added.

On cross examination, defence lawyer Marc Crarer asked Evans if there were any other items he recalls being in the vehicle— a maroon 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Evans said he doesn’t recall.

“I don’t want to speculate,” he said. “I don’t know how many items were in the Jeep that didn’t containdrugs.”

The MHPS officers, as well as two members of the Brooks RCMP who were called in to assist, took Hotchen to jail in Brooks, as that was the nearest 24-hour detention centre.

Const. Che Purvis of the Brooks RCMP, who arrested Hotchen, said he took the accused into his car and read him his Charter rights almost immediately.

“He had no response whatsoever,” said Purvis.

When they brought him into remand, a “little bit of a wrestling match” broke out after Hotchen refused to take off his ring, he added.

While Purvis mentioned the ring, Hotchen showed it off in the prisoner’s box. It was on his middle finger.

The officer said Hotchen had “some scratches,” which came as a result of wrestling him to the ground to get the ring off, but maintains it “wasn’t a major altercation.”

Const. Blair Knight of MHPS and ALERT said it “took three of us to take him to the ground,” admitting to striking the accused in the face with a closed fist to subdue him.

About 10 minutes after the altercation, police provided Hotchen with the opportunity to contact a lawyer, Knight added.

“I think we were all worked up from the brief struggle,” he said.

The trial continues this morning, picking up with the cross examination of MHPS Sgt. Kirt Murray.

Hotchen also has a two-week trial scheduled for Nov. 28 to Dec. 7 for the bulk of his charges, stemming from his October 2016 arrest at a rural residence near Seven Persons, where police confiscated 49 grams of meth, a small amount of cocaine, heroin, an unknown white powder and a loaded sawed-off shotgun.

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