An RCMP officer charged with assault with a weapon, assault, and obstruction of justice over the arrest of an Indigenous man in Prince George in 2016 has been found not guilty on all counts. 

Const. Joshua Grafton, an RCMP dog handler, was criminally charged four years after a back-alley takedown of two truck thieves was captured by a backyard security camera. 

Grafton was charged with assaulting a man with a police dog and obstructing justice by allegedly making false entries in his dog handler’s report. 

But provincial court Judge P. McDermick ruled Grafton’s actions were “proportionate, necessary, and reasonable” given the “high-risk” situation. 

The lawyer for a B.C. RCMP officer acquitted of assault and obstruction of justice this week is slamming the justice system for the length of time it took for the case to conclude.

Const. Joshua Grafton was one of three officers charged in relation to an arrest in Prince George captured on camera in 2016, involving two suspects in a vehicle theft.

Charges against the other two officers were stayed in 2021.

Staffing shortages in the B.C. Sheriff Service are nothing new, but the ongoing problem has once again led to courtroom closures.

A shortage of available sheriffs recently forced the closure of five courtrooms for a day at the Surrey Provincial Court, and the Abbotsford Law Courts were forced to close three courtrooms on Friday, Monday and Tuesday for the same reason.

The challenges the sheriff’s service are facing were highlighted in a recent recruitment and retention report commissioned by the provincial government from consultants Business Research and Diagnostics.

By the time Kyle Bienvenu graduated high school in Victoria, B.C., he knew exactly what he wanted to do next because it had always been part of him. He wanted to be an artist.

“I love performing, I love being in front of people,” the professionally trained dancer explains. “I love the work it takes to get to that point.”

Today, as a partner at Hira Rowan LLP in Vancouver and as this year’s winner of the CBA’s Douglas Miller Rising Star Award, he uses those same words to describe the feeling he gets practising as a litigator in commercial and construction law.

B.C. rolled out province-wide protocols and standards for the police use of body-worn cameras (BWC) in 2019, but Minister Mike Farnworth said for the time being the decision to use them is being left in local hands.

“It is up to each police agency at this particular point. We have been working with municipalities and chiefs of police on this issue, that’s why the standard operating procedures for body cameras were put in place,” Farnworth said.

A B.C. judge has ruled two Mounties were justified in their use of force to arrest a man deemed a “risk to the public.” And as Aaron McArthur reports, a defence lawyer says the case is another example of a failed “catch and release” policy when it comes to criminals

A stay of proceedings against two RCMP officers on trial this week in Yellowknife is a “complete vindication” of the officers’ actions, their lawyers say.

The trial began in territorial court on Monday. RCMP Const. Francessca Bechard and Cpl. Jason Archer were each charged with one count of assault for their use of force against prisoner Tracella Romie in 2020 at the Yellowknife detachment.

The Crown has stayed charges against two Yellowknife RCMP officers accused of using excessive force against a woman in their custody.

Prosecutor Greg Lyndon, on the third day of trial on Wednesday morning, stayed one charge of assault each against Cst Francessca Bechard and Cpl Jason Archer related to the arrest and detention of a woman at the Yellowknife detachment in October 2020.