Decision today in Thunder Bay Police Chief J.P. Levesque trial
6 day trial took place in December, chief charged with breach of trust, obstruction of justice
Thunder Bay Police Chief J.P. Levesque will learn his fate today, when a decision in his obstruction of justice and breach of trust trial will be handed down.
- Defence, crown rest cases in J.P. Levesque trial
- Crown alleges 'scheme', cover up at J.P. Levesque trial
Justice Bonnie Warkentin is scheduled to deliver her decision at 10 a.m. at the Thunder Bay courthouse.
Levesque's trial spanned six days in December, 2017, where a number of RCMP and Thunder Bay police officers were witnesses for the Crown. J.P. Levesque and former Thunder Bay police chief Bob Herman were witnesses for the defence.
The issue in this case is that Levesque told Thunder Bay mayor Keith Hobbs he was part of an extortion investigation. Levesque also told senior members of the Thunder Bay police, city manager Norm Gale and police services board chair Jackie Dojack.
The Crown, Jason Nicol, said in court that the discussion with the extortion suspect, Keith Hobbs, is the basis of the two charges.
Nicol told court he had three theories as to why Levesque would have told Hobbs about the extortion allegations. One was that Levesque wanted to cover up that allegation.
The second theory was that Levesque didn't want to betray Hobbs and make him angry, with the third being that Levesque wanted to stop the extortion matter himself.
On the witness stand, Levesque said all of those theories were incorrect, saying that the line of questioning was "insulting."
Levesque also testified at length about the strained relationship between police and Hobbs, who is a retired police officer.
He told the court that he informed Hobbs of the extortion allegations to try and protect his newly-hired deputy police chief, Sylvie Hauth.
Levesque said he had concerns that Hobbs would find out about the allegations, and that Hauth would be badgered by comments from Hobbs, if news about the allegations were to go public.
In its closing statements, the Crown re-iterated the three theories as to why Levesque would tell Hobbs about the allegations.
Defence counsel Brian Gover told the court that there was no "illicit scheme" as alluded to by the crown, and what Levesque did was not a marked departure from the standard of a police chief.
The defence also argued that Levesque did not obstruct, pervert or intend to obstruct justice, and that there was no criminal intent in any of Levesque's actions.
The defence also re-iterated that reasonable doubt in the case is all that is needed for Levesque to be acquitted.
You can follow the live tweeting of the decision here.
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