Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Melinda Karlsson alleges Hoffman's fiancée is behind campaign of harassment

MBates · 06-14-2018, 06:45 PM

Coming late to the thread, I have a few general comments.

1. There is room to discuss things which are not yet known without having to engage in wild speculation or make declaratory statements suggesting "if x then it MUST be y" applies in a one-size-fits-all type manner.

2. Sworn allegations are interesting, but that does not on its own make them more valid. Neither do the tweets of other wives necessarily, but they amount to named individuals asserting publicly that they have first-hand knowledge of such conduct - it would be extremely careless to publish such statements without being able to back them up with evidence. This tends to give them more significance to an outsider trying to assess what has occurred.

3. The suggestion that any good lawyer will always tell their client to not cooperate with the police is just wrong. As another poster pointed out shortly thereafter, sometimes clients really did not do anything in relation to the specific allegations and by cooperating can have themselves ruled out from further investigation (and thereby can even avoid being found out for other unrelated things they may wish to keep private). It is generally very unwise to cooperate with police without the guidance of an experienced criminal lawyer, but there are plenty of situations where cooperation is in the client's best interests and can be done quite safely.

4. That Forbes piece is very sloppy - for example referring to the application as being for a restraining order while posting a copy of an application for a Criminal Code s. 810 peace bond. Also, moving interchangeably between tenses as though it doesn't make a difference to say "So for now, these are merely allegations. Still, to get the peace bond, Karlsson's lawyers needed persuasive evidence." when there clearly has not yet been any peace bond issued.

5. While not itself a criminal offence, an 810 peace bond information compels a justice to require the parties to appear in court and if satisfied the applicant has reasonable grounds for the fear she swears she has, then the defendant may be ordered to enter into a recognizance to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for up to 12 months (other conditions such as no contact, abstain from alcohol etc. can be added). If the defendant refuses, she can be put in jail for up to 12 months for refusing.

The arrest warrant and bail procedures of the Criminal Code apply (so if for example the defendant does not appear they can be arrested) and if the defendant breaches the peace bond that is a criminal offence which can be punishable by up to 4 years in prison.

I am quick to point out, none of this tells us anything about the credibility or reliability of the allegations, but I think it puts some perspective on the seriousness of the situation.

06-14-2018, 06:45 PM	#406
MBates Scoring Winger Join Date: Jul 2013 Exp:	Coming late to the thread, I have a few general comments. 1. There is room to discuss things which are not yet known without having to engage in wild speculation or make declaratory statements suggesting "if x then it MUST be y" applies in a one-size-fits-all type manner. 2. Sworn allegations are interesting, but that does not on its own make them more valid. Neither do the tweets of other wives necessarily, but they amount to named individuals asserting publicly that they have first-hand knowledge of such conduct - it would be extremely careless to publish such statements without being able to back them up with evidence. This tends to give them more significance to an outsider trying to assess what has occurred. 3. The suggestion that any good lawyer will always tell their client to not cooperate with the police is just wrong. As another poster pointed out shortly thereafter, sometimes clients really did not do anything in relation to the specific allegations and by cooperating can have themselves ruled out from further investigation (and thereby can even avoid being found out for other unrelated things they may wish to keep private). It is generally very unwise to cooperate with police without the guidance of an experienced criminal lawyer, but there are plenty of situations where cooperation is in the client's best interests and can be done quite safely. 4. That Forbes piece is very sloppy - for example referring to the application as being for a restraining order while posting a copy of an application for a Criminal Code s. 810 peace bond. Also, moving interchangeably between tenses as though it doesn't make a difference to say "So for now, these are merely allegations. Still, to get the peace bond, Karlsson's lawyers needed persuasive evidence." when there clearly has not yet been any peace bond issued. 5. While not itself a criminal offence, an 810 peace bond information compels a justice to require the parties to appear in court and if satisfied the applicant has reasonable grounds for the fear she swears she has, then the defendant may be ordered to enter into a recognizance to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for up to 12 months (other conditions such as no contact, abstain from alcohol etc. can be added). If the defendant refuses, she can be put in jail for up to 12 months for refusing. The arrest warrant and bail procedures of the Criminal Code apply (so if for example the defendant does not appear they can be arrested) and if the defendant breaches the peace bond that is a criminal offence which can be punishable by up to 4 years in prison. I am quick to point out, none of this tells us anything about the credibility or reliability of the allegations, but I think it puts some perspective on the seriousness of the situation.