Erica Levin, wife of psychiatrist convicted of sexual assault, on trial for bribery
Calgary woman charged with obstruction of justice after juror claimed she was offered money
A Calgary woman accused of trying to bribe a juror cried as her trial got underway Monday morning.
Erica Levin is charged with obstruction of justice after a juror at her husband's trial said she was offered money in exchange for an aquittal.
Former forensic psychiatrist Aubrey Levin was convicted of sexually assaulting patients in his care in January 2013. He was found guilty of three counts for fondling men who had been assigned to him through the courts.
- Convicted court psychiatrist Aubrey Levin's appeal denied
- Erica Levin in court over charge she tried to bribe husband's juror
After a lengthy appeal process, Aubrey Levin started serving his five-year sentence last April.
Calgary lawyer Adriano Iovinelli says obstruction is a serious charge.
"It's not the first time there's been an allegation whether a jury member's been threatened, or attempted to be contacted, or bribed — either out of sympathy or financial gains — so we've seen these cases before, [but] they're very rare," he said.
In a letter to Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Donna Shelley, who presided over Aubrey Levin's trial, "Juror No. 3" wrote she was approached on the C-Train platform near the courthouse on Jan. 11, 2013, by a woman she claimed was Erica Levin.
The juror claimed Erica Levin tried to hand her an envelope full of cash.
C-Train footage shown in court
Both Crown and defence agreed that even though the juror had done nothing wrong, it was in the court's best interest to excuse her from the remainder of the trial.
Aubrey Levin's trial carried on with 11 jurors.
Shelley cited Erica Levin for contempt, and issued warrants for her arrest and for the seizure of the C-Train surveillance video.
It was that surveillance footage that was at the centre of Monday's testimony in a Calgary courtroom.
Det. Perry Patzwald, who obtained the C-Train video, took the court through the footage. He identified the woman that handed a white envelope to the juror as Erica Levin to the court.
He is from the Calgary police sex crimes unit and also testified at Aubrey Levin's trial about some spy cam footage recorded by one victim.
The juror who accused Erica Levin of trying to make a bribe is expected to testify Tuesday.
The trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.