STORY: "Anatomy of a Mr. Big police sting," by crime reporter Paul Cherry, published by the Gazette, on April 11, 2014.
GIST: "It’s a dramatic and controversial policing tool investigators employ as a last resort when they hit dead ends in solving major crimes. Mr. Big operations are elaborate sting operations the RCMP reportedly uses a dozen times a year in Canada to attempt to extract confessions from suspects. The tactic has been weighed by the courts twice in recent months. In March, a judge in Laval had to decide whether a Mr. Big operation would be allowed as evidence in the jury trial of Éric Daudelin, who was convicted of the murder, sexual assault and forcible confinement of 9-year-old Joleil Campeau almost two decades earlier. Last December, the Supreme Court of Canada was asked to consider whether such an operation violated the rights of a Newfoundland father convicted of murder in the drowning deaths of his twin daughters. The court could rule at any time on the case of Nelson Hart, in a decision expected to address to what extent suspects are under the state’s control during a Mr. Big operation. A confession made while a person is detained and under the control of the state is often carefully analyzed by a court to determine if it was made under such a degree of pressure that even an innocent person would have made it. Here is an anatomy of a Mr. Big and some of the legal implications."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Anatomy+police+sting/9729207/story.htmlGIST: "It’s a dramatic and controversial policing tool investigators employ as a last resort when they hit dead ends in solving major crimes. Mr. Big operations are elaborate sting operations the RCMP reportedly uses a dozen times a year in Canada to attempt to extract confessions from suspects. The tactic has been weighed by the courts twice in recent months. In March, a judge in Laval had to decide whether a Mr. Big operation would be allowed as evidence in the jury trial of Éric Daudelin, who was convicted of the murder, sexual assault and forcible confinement of 9-year-old Joleil Campeau almost two decades earlier. Last December, the Supreme Court of Canada was asked to consider whether such an operation violated the rights of a Newfoundland father convicted of murder in the drowning deaths of his twin daughters. The court could rule at any time on the case of Nelson Hart, in a decision expected to address to what extent suspects are under the state’s control during a Mr. Big operation. A confession made while a person is detained and under the control of the state is often carefully analyzed by a court to determine if it was made under such a degree of pressure that even an innocent person would have made it. Here is an anatomy of a Mr. Big and some of the legal implications."
The entire story can be found at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog
