Crown prosecutor lost confidence in RCMP to turn over evidence in Travis Vader case

Edmonton's chief Crown prosecutor admitted under oath Monday she had lost all confidence in the RCMP's ability to turn over all evidence in a double murder investigation.  

Michelle Doyle testified at a hearing revolving around the case of Travis Vader, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann.

The St. Albert, Alta., seniors disappeared more than five years ago. Their bodies were never found.

Vader was supposed to go on trial in April 2014. A few months before that, the RCMP sergeant in charge of the investigation told Doyle key information was missing. Doyle described it as "a disclosure crisis."

Document dump

The month before the trial was supposed to begin, the RCMP rounded up another 5,000 documents and passed them to the Crown prosecutor. Doyle said the sheer volume meant it would "take days and probably weeks" to assess the material.  

She complained to an RCMP inspector.  

"I was stunned," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I was very upset and very angry, and that was communicated quite clearly."

RCMP provided 20 officers to help with the situation. But Doyle said she became convinced it would be unfair to allow the trial to go ahead.  

She told the court, "I started to be concerned about the apparent failure of other policing sections, to not turn over their material to our investigative team on this case. At this point, I'd lost all confidence in the status of disclosure."

Unsure of a just conviction

The hearing's Crown prosecutor, Ashley Finlayson, asked, "You thought you had evidence you could call that would implicate Mr. Vader?"  

"Absolutely," Doyle replied.

Finlayson asked why she didn't just proceed with the evidence she had.

Doyle answered, "I believed that Mr. Vader would be convicted. I believed it."

But Doyle said she wasn't sure it would have resulted in a just conviction. "I was not prepared to be a party to that at all."  

Doyle directed a stay of proceedings in mid-March. That gave the Crown one year to reactivate the charges, which occurred in December 2014.

Now Vader's lawyer, Brian Beresh, is asking for the judge to issue another stay of judicial proceedings, citing an abuse of process. He alleges the Crown violated Vader's charter rights by failing to provide full disclosure and by an unacceptable delay in the start of the trial.

Beresh cross-examined Doyle on Monday, questioning her about rules that deal with the disclosure of evidence.

At one point, Doyle said she sees herself as a "protector of the rights of the accused."

Beresh asked if she was supervising police when it came to disclosure in this case.

"They don't take direction from me," she said. "But I certainly am working with them as part of a team. Ultimately, the obligation is mine."

Circumstantial case

Little has been revealed about the nature of the evidence gathered against Vader.

Doyle provided some clues Monday in the witness box.

She admitted it is a circumstantial case with "critically important" forensic evidence that "placed Mr. Vader at particular locations." 

Doyle said the breadth of the investigation was "wide" and relied on tying together and drawing inferences from "small items of evidence."