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Robert Woodward

Vancouver cops face prosecution after brutalizing a 71 year old man, who they saw swallowing a Tylenol pill in a private vehicle.  Cops violently hauled the disabled senior citizen out of the car and tossed him against a wall, cutting his arm and causing surgery scar to open.  A Vancouver Sun report says of the victim, Robert Woodward, "His (earlier) spinal injury was so severe that he was paralysed from the waist down for 12 years but taught himself to walk again..."  ""I'm just taking them (Tylenol) and wham - I'm against the wall," he recalled of the incident.  The impact knocked out his false teeth, he added...He asked for the officer's names and badge numbers but was told, "It's none of your business."  He filed a police complaint the day of the incident and asked the sergeant who took his complaint for the names and badge numbers of the officers.  "All he said is he would get in touch with them," Woodward recalled...Vancouver police Constable Anne Drennan said Woodward had not filed a formal complaint with police...Drennan said the officers ran into Woodward the next day and apologized to him.  Woodward denies that happened." 
 
Believe Woodward, because VPD is a pack of wild animals whose savage members should be charged with Fraud everytime they cash a pay cheque.  Those worthless pigs unfound 19 out of every 20 crime complaints that their wage payers make, by right.  They make a paltry 7 arrests per pig per year, and most of these are false.--from a visitor

Police Officers Face Prosecution for Assaulting Senior Citizen

Press Advisory - For Immediate Release

January 20, 2005
PIVOT Legal Society

Police Officers Face Prosecution for Assaulting Senior Citizen

VANCOUVER - A senior criminal defence lawyer is preparing to prosecute two Vancouver Police officers for assaulting an elderly man in the Downtown Eastside.

Howard Rubin, a former Crown prosecutor, is set to appear in Provincial Court at 222 Main, on Monday, January 24, at 2:00 p.m. to begin proceedings against the two officers. Rubin is acting on behalf of Robert Woodward, a 71-year old senior citizen who lives in Surrey and does volunteer work in the Downtown Eastside.

What makes this case special is that a private citizen is acting as prosecutor, rather than the Crown. Under the Criminal Code, individual citizens can initiate criminal proceedings without the assistance of either the police or the Crown. Rubin took up the case on the request of Pivot Legal Society, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of marginalized persons.

The private prosecution stems from an incident on September 4, 2004. Woodward, who collects toys to give to poor families, was in his car taking Tylenol 3. Woodward has a subscription for the pills because of chronic pain, due to an industrial accident that paralyzed him for 12 years.

"I had put the Tylenols in my mouth when someone grabbed my throat and shoulder and literally dragged me out of the car," said Woodward. "There were two officers. One slammed me into a wall face first, and yelled 'Spit it out!' When I spit out the pills, my teeth came out as well."

Woodward suffered serious cuts to his left hand and right shoulder, and his stomach started to bleed from old injuries that split open. After the incident, VPD officers Swanson and Whittaker refused to give their names or badge numbers. Whittaker has since quit the VPD.

Woodward laid a complaint with the Vancouver Police Department the same day, but nothing ever happened. Since then, he tried six different times to get the names of the officers. It was only when Pivot Legal Society demanded the officer's names were they released.

"This case illustrates how lack of proper oversight and a violent police culture puts everyone in society at risk," said John Richardson, executive director of Pivot Legal Society. "There is no public safety without police accountability, not even for the elderly."

_________________

Further Comment:
John Richardson
(604) 417-6074

Howard Rubin
(604) 984-2030

PRIVATE PROSECUTIONS

BACKGROUNDER

Canadian criminal law is normally enforced using a two-step process: The police first investigate a crime, and then Crown prosecutors try the case in court. It is a little known fact, however, that individual Canadians are also authorized to initiate criminal proceedings, without involving either the police or the Crown. This process, known as a private prosecution, allows private individuals to act as criminal prosecutors.

Private prosecutions are not a new phenomenon. From the early Middle Ages to the 17th century, private prosecutions were the main way to enforce the criminal law. Indeed, responsibility for preserving the peace and maintaining the law generally rested with private citizens. Since that time, the police and the Crown Counsel's office have assumed most of the responsibilities for law enforcement. However, under the common law in Canada, every person has the right to initiate a private prosecution against an alleged offender in any matter that constitutes a violation of the Criminal Code. Individuals can also initiate private prosecutions to enforce a statute, such as environmental legislation, that provides penalties for the violations.

A private prosecution occurs when an individual, or a group of individuals, gathers evidence of a wrongdoing and swears an Information setting out the particulars of the alleged crime. Rather than the police initiating charges, as is normally the case, it is the individual who initiates criminal proceedings in a private prosecution.

This is how the process works:   a.. Any person can go before a Justice of the Peace and swear under oath that an illegal act has occurred. This process is known as "Laying an Information."  b.. A Justice of the Peace who receives an Information must refer the matter to a Provincial Court Judge.  c.. The individual who has laid the Information then appears before the Judge at a special hearing. If the Judge is satisfied that there exists substantial evidence that an offence has occurred, the Judge will issue a summons and order the accused to answer to the charge in court.  d.. If the Judge allows the charge to proceed, the individual (or their lawyer) can act as the prosecutor in conducting the legal proceedings.

The right of an individual to conduct a private prosecution is not unlimited. The Attorney General has the ability to take over a private prosecution. If the Attorney General decides that the prosecution is against the public interest, it can be stopped. In some cases, the Attorney General and the private prosecutor will work together, sharing the responsibility.

If the accused is found guilty as a result of the private prosecution, punishment and a criminal record will follow in the same way as a prosecution by the Crown.

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Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell

Truth suppress'd, whether by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com

If you hold the mouth of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb

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Publisher : Sheila Steele

Got something to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!

injusticebusters court advice :

How to walk yourself through the justice system

 

Why you should dump your preliminary hearing (written July 1998 and still valid)

 

Sermonette: The Naked Truth -- (You will find links to many more sermonettes in the sidebar on this page

Another target of Dueck's malice: : Wilf Hathway

Our activism contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the civil trial.

Index to the stories on this website

This is not regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated

Index to Saskatoon Police stories

This is a pretty good scrapbook for the 1998-2002 period.

Inquiry into the malicious prosecution of David Milgaard untanling 36 years of Saskatchewan police and Crown misconduct: : Opening day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

Stephen Williams: Canadian writer subject to Stasi-like treatment by Canadian police

Terry Arnold: : Snitch a suicide?

RCMP scenario stings: Brian Hutchinson starts digging

Gary wells: Faulty eye-witness testimony

Tulia, Texas

Gilmer, Texas

Willie Upshaw

Wrongfully convicted in Canada

Foster Parent false accusations

Martensville

Don Smith obscenity trial: an obscene conviction

James Lockyer

Hurricane Carter

Johnny Cochran speaks up for Bill Sampson

Vopnis

Abdulai Mohamed

The Terrible Story behind the Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns convictions

Trial set for June 15

We know part of this disclosure is a forged statement and perjured affidavit from a Winnipeg cop

The Crown is still fighting Fred Poirier -- and they are losing. Secret Commissions Case from Northern B.C.

 

 

2005: In the United States the proven wrongful convictions just keep coming at us!

 

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Brandon Morin:

Convicted in Oregon

of rapes which did not happen

This website has good information about Measure 11 -- Oregon's Mandatory Sentencing requirements which have been in place since 1994. In this case we see how the combination of a flawed grand jury system and prosecutors who seek not justice but convictions is a recipe for wrongful convictions.

 

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Canadians who have been wrongfully convicted because of improper investigations combined with zealous Crown

A round-up of wrongful convictions in Canada

Robert Baltovich

Michael Burns

Sebastian Burns

Rodney Cain

Wilbert Coffin (hanged, 1953)

Jason Dix

Jim Driskell

Jody Druken

Randy Druken

Hugues Duguay

Michel Dumont

Peter Frumusa

Walter Gillespie and Robert Mailman

Clayton Johnson

Yvonne Johnson

Herman Kaglik

Darren Koehn

Kulaveeringsam "Kulam" Karthiresu

Stephen Leadbeater

Donald Marshall

Chris McCullough

Michael McTaggart

Felix Michaud

David Milgaard

Guy Paul Morin

Shannon Murrin

Jamie Nelson

Greg Parsons

Benoit Proulx

Atif Rafay

Louise Reynolds

Thomas Sophonow

Gary Staples

Billy Taillefer

Steven Truscott

Joe Warren

Leon Walchuk

 

AIDWYC

Innocence Project (Canada)

Innocence Project (U.S.)

Northwest Law Center on Wrongful Convictions

 

Kirstin Lobato

Jeffrey Scott Hornoff

Willie Upshaw

Hurricane Carter

Guildford 4

Birmingham 6

Amirault

Houston

U.S. wrongful convictions: Exonerateed

Kirk Bloodsworth

Laurence Adams

Ludrate Burton

Stephen Cowans

Wilton Dedge

Albert Johnson

Kenneth Marsh

Dwayne McKinney

James Bernard Parker

Peter Reilly

Peter Rose

Sylvester Smith

Clifford St. Joseph

John Stoll

Marty Tankleff

Wilton Dedge

Ray Krone

 

Still working on it:

Dennis Deschaine

Dennis Perry

Tim Sandfort

 

 

Revitalizing the archives From 1998 until 2002, injusticebusters was in the throes of identity crisis. What was it? What were we doing? We grappled with editorial policy at the same time we were learning the nuts and bolts of building and posting a website. Once we had a secure, paid site I had full editorial control, although I talked regularly to Richard Klassen who was forced to move his family several times and did not always have access to the internet. Rick's pages: one | two We posted our earliest and later actions. Early versions of the site can be found on the Wayback Machine. I began following other threads to stories of police and prosecutorial misconduct and the site's character took on another facet: a newsclipping scrapbook where stories could live longer than they would in print form. I also began picking up other stories of wrongfully convicted people. It was an explosion. By 2003 there were over 700 pages. I also had contact with several other people (Don Smith, Leon Walchuk, Monique Turenne, the Vopnis) and kept these stories going. It was the story of the Ross children's treatment at the hands of the Saskatchewan government which grabbed the attention of The Fifth Estate. The civil claim (The $10M Lawsuit as we called it) was only mentioned briefly at the end of their show which aired in November, 2000. When Richard Klassen began to make progress in bringing his civil claim to court, the government and police defendants alleged he was breaking the rules of court by publishing discovery material on the internet. MacNeil clinic (the document which started it all) The Thompson Papers Carol Bunko-Ruys reports This claim was absolutely false. However, rather than risk being thrown out of his civil claim, Klassen undertook before Judge Mona Dovall to sever all ties with the website. The court fights: Les Perreaux report QB271 These pages have links which lead to other pages from that era. Now that some of the dust has settled, I have been going back through the material we had posted in the early days. In the spirit of keeping the scrapbook alive, I have been reformatting and placing links. The original material remains intact. I hope the information, which chronicles our struggle is useful to you. The identity crisis is over. We know who we are --Sheila Steele, March 28, 2005

 

Blogging

Blogging has been in the news. It is the new, trendy thing with 40,000 new blogs being created each day. I established a blog for this website last September and it is now "taking off." These are a few of the pages with ongoing discussions.

Tasering Mary Lutz

Saskatchewan Centenary

Quint Blog discussion

Rotten apples in the Saskatoon Police

Blogging for choice

Michael Cardamone witch hunt

Implement recommendations of public inquiries

Stealing from the poor

Vancouver's killer cops

Tisdale rapists appeal

Winnipeg police misdeeds

Milgaard Inquiry

Chief Sabo: can he be trusted?

The Old Boys' Club Must Go!

Vancouver activists

John Hudak: Falsely accused mountie

City of intolerance

Constable Larry Lockwood: Exciteable!

Eric Cline

This is a great way for like-minded people to communicate and share our views. It is easier than making a website and marginally more difficult than a forum.

People who want to contribute simply have to punch the "comment" link and they will be taken to a page with a box which allows them to write their comment, preview and post it. It takes a while for the comment to show up and some people get impatient and repost. That's fine, I trash the duplicate posts and no harm done.

Please, please give it a try. The internet is distinguished from other media in that it is really and truly interactive. Blogging makes it possible to express your viewpoint even if you don't have a computer. You can go to the library or a friend's place or an internet cafe. Once you've mastered the basics (and believe me, if I can do it, you can do it) you will be participating in one of the most democratic -- and potentially powerful -- media the world as we know it has ever seen.

Come on. Don't be shy. Join the Weblog World! -- Sheila Steele, March 20, 2005

Toronto Police paid out $30M in secretly resolved claims over last five years