This June 19 Provincial Court of Alberta decision managed to slip by me.
As some of you know, the Provincial Court deals with most criminal matters, leaving things like fraud and extradition to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.
In this case, former Parliamentary Counsel for the Alberta Legislature Michael Ritter asked the Provincial Court to find that his constitutional rights, namely section 8 of the Charter which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, and also section 7 which guarantees the right to life, liberty and security of the person. The event in question was the police seizing his computer, which led to the discovery that he had applied for a Belizean passport under a false name, in contravention of a previous court order.
The judge in his case decided his rights had not been breached, and that all evidence as a result of the computer seizure is admissible as evidence in an eventual trial.
Other interesting parts of the June 19 decision:
-Paragraph 30: the judge noted that Ritter’s company (although he claims not to own the company) Newport has “failed.”
-Paragraph 36: the judge notes that Ritter is “not a lawyer.”
Happy reading!
Check here for the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology
