07-29-2016, 06:24 PM
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#71
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Crash and Bang Winger
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It is completely outrageous conduct. I would recommend everyone actually read the ruling, but since many will not (not really blaming anyone it is massively long) here are some choice bits:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/...16BCSC1404.htm
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[787] During the four-month undercover operation the defendants demonstrated that they lacked focus and sufficient motivation to take their jihadist beliefs any further than mere talk and bravado. The defendants also demonstrated that they lacked the skills, the expertise and the financial resources to formulate and carry out a realistic terrorist plan. There was no evidence that the defendants were connected to any third party, apart from the undercover officers, who was prepared to participate in a plan with them or had the skills and expertise necessary to craft or carry out a terrorist plan. The investigative team consistently reported to senior officers that there was no imminent danger to the public. The police never uncovered ongoing preparations in support of a plan that had to be disrupted.
[788] The police became frustrated with the slow progress of the operation due to the defendants’ lack of motivation, and manufactured a crime for the defendants to commit. It is not an abuse of process for the police to make repeated and even persistent and importuning offers to commit an offence. However, when the police manipulate marginalized persons and exploit their vulnerabilities on several levels in order to push them into doing criminal acts that they would be incapable of doing without overwhelming assistance from the police, their conduct is an abuse of process. The defendants expressed a desire to commit an act of terrorism to redress wrongs against Muslims and they were convicted by the jury of terrorism offences. However, it was the police who motivated them to act on these beliefs and made them capable of playing a small role in the execution of a terrorist plot.
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I find that the RCMP knowingly facilitated a terrorist activity by providing money and other services to the defendants that helped and made easier the terrorist activity.
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...the manner in which Sgt. Kalkat directed Project Souvenir was both dictatorial and designed to eliminate dissenting views.
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[822] In my view, Sgt. Kalkat’s decision to push ahead with the operation despite the lack of motivation shown by the defendants, his concerted efforts to eliminate any dissenters from his team, and his desire to bring the project to a speedy conclusion without due regard for the criminal nature of the acts committed by the undercover officers, cannot be regarded as good faith.
[823] There were a great many frustrations and problems that plagued Project Souvenir. The undercover shop and the investigative team had many disagreements about the pace and direction of the operation; however, most of the problems were caused by the defendants’ lack of focus and motivation to do anything beyond talk about jihad. The RCMP’s pre-occupation with motivating the defendants to commit an act of terrorism appears to have distracted them from more important considerations such as the legality of their actions.
[824] All of these circumstances render the illegal acts committed by the police more egregious and, in combination with the overall conduct of the police, an abuse of process. One must not forget that there was little risk to the public to justify illegal acts by the police. The RCMP did not act to break up a pre-existing plan to carry out a terrorist plot. There was no evidence that the defendants had taken steps to formulate a terrorist plot; were in communication with known terrorists or terrorist organizations; or possessed any expertise that would have been of value to a terrorist organization. The police were not infiltrating a sophisticated terrorist organization. The illegal acts committed by the police were not directed at the defendants or designed to frighten them into committing the offence. However, it is equally offensive for the police to commit illegal acts that enable an offence in circumstances where they knew the defendants could not have committed the offence absent police assistance.
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There are really a lot more but this one has got to be my favorite:
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[836] There are no remedies less drastic than a stay of proceedings that will address the abuse of process. The spectre of the defendants serving a life sentence for a crime that the police manufactured by exploiting their vulnerabilities, by instilling fear that they would be killed if they backed out, and by quashing all doubts they had in the religious justifications for the crime, is offensive to our concept of fundamental justice. Simply put, the world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more out of marginalized people who have neither the capacity nor sufficient motivation to do it themselves.
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