BATTLEFORD, Sask., May 6 (LSN) – Randy Kirkham, the crown prosecutor in the original Robert Latimer trial, is being accused in court of attempting to stack the jury. Latimer’s conviction in that trial was overturned, because of allegations the crown asked potential jurors about their views on matters relevant to the case. He was convicted again in a second trial last year. Both trials centered on the “mercy-killing” of Latimer’s daughter, Tracy. The police officer in charge of the original investigation testified yesterday that the jury selection process in the first case was not compromised. RCMP Cpl Nick Hartle said, “There was no intention to contact jurors directly. Mr. Kirkham never told me to.” Hartle’s testimony directly contradicts that of Kirkham’s accusers. Kirkham faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted. Latimer, too, was to face a 10 year prison term for killing his daughter; but the judge granted an unprecedented constitutional exemption, sentencing him instead to only one year in jail, because the judge felt Canadians would regard the standard minimum sentence as “cruel and unusual punishment.”
News
UPDATE ON TRIAL OF LATIMER PROSECUTOR
BATTLEFORD, Sask., May 6 (LSN) – Randy Kirkham, the crown prosecutor in the original Robert Latimer trial, is being accused in court of attempting to stack the jury. Latimer’s conviction in that trial was overturned, because of allegations the crown asked potential jurors about their views on matters relevant to the case. He was convicted again in a second trial last year. Both trials centered on the “mercy-killing” of Latimer’s daughter, Tracy. The police officer in charge of the original investigation testified yesterday that the jury selection process in the first case was not compromised. RCMP Cpl Nick Hartle said, […]
$