|
Jaime
Wheeler
| Denver
Crawford
| Wilf
Hathway
Patrick Fischer
March
12, 2006: Letter from atrick Fisher
Details of another wrongful conviction
coming to light
The following account is provided by
Patrick's mother, Linda Fischer.
Interestingly enough,
Linda went to the conference in Winnipeg on wrongful convictions
last November in hopes of getting the facts of what had happened
to her son into the hands of someone who could help. Dave Burns
was there, on a similar mission for his son Sebastian, but he
and Linda did not meet each other. Eventually, through this website,
they did connect.
Mr. Big Sting
Canada, land of the free. These
are words that I would recite as a young person with much pride.
Today these words send a chill up my back and a longing for true
justice in our country.
In Canada the RCMP have been
using a secret operation known as The Mr. Big Sting to elicit
confessions. This sting is used often in cold cases that are
unsolved and not producing any new evidence or leads.
A confession is regarded as
the most powerful, persuasive and damning evidence of guilt that
can be produced. A false confession is the most prejudicial
evidence that can arise at trial. Judges and juries are
usually unwilling to accept that someone who has confessed did
not actually commit the crime, why on earth would an innocent
person confess to a crime? Confession evidence alone generally
ensures a conviction. This is exactly why the RCMP loves
the Mr. Big Sting.
The Mr. Big scenario is a win
win situation for the RCMP. They are designed to get a confession,
not the truth. They engage people in small criminal activities
in order to assassinate their character, their truthfulness and
credibility in the court and in the media. By using coercion,
fear and threats they are able to elicit false confessions from
people. The average person on a jury will not understand
how a person can confess if they are innocent and the defendant
has already been made to look like a criminal in the eyes of
the jurors.
When the Canadian RCMP resorts
to such flawed and deceitful methods to elicit confessions, all
trust in our justice system is lost. Not only is this scenario
dangerous to all our freedoms, it has been performed countless
times under the cloak of secrecy. The courts in trying
to hide their dirty tactics have had publication bans on these
methods under the disguise of trying to protect the RCMP undercover,
when in fact it is done to keep the Canadian public from knowing
the level of deceit and lies the police use. . At what cost are
the guilty to be found? One wrongful conviction is too much
Mr. Big Sting is used on highly
suggestible or impressionable suspects. They are often people
who struggle financially, loners and are often on the fringes
of society. The protocols or safeguards to enhance reliability
of the evidence is almost non existent. The psychological
strategies used by these undercover police can cause both guilty
and innocent people to confess.
I am the mother of a
wrongful convicted. My son Patrick Fischer, on Nov 30, 2001 was
convicted of 1st degree murder in the death of Darci Drefko.
His case is a prime example of how the Mr. Big Sting can elicit
false confessions and allow the real killer or killers to roam
free.
On May 15th, 1999
the clothed and partially decomposed body of 16 year old Darci
Drefko was found by 11 horseback riders in a wooded area off
Lilly Lake Road, outside of Merritt BC.
Darci and her sister Susan
were involved in a drug & prostitution ring ran by a group
of East Indians who supplied a pipeline of drugs and girls to
Surrey and other areas. Previously, on March 13, 1999 Darci
was brutally raped, beaten and left naked in a ditch in Surrey
BC. Unfortunately even after that, Darci still
wanted to go to Surrey. In fact her family had thought she was
in Surrey as she had been missing for over 3 weeks. The
investigation into her rape was concluded due to her death rather
than resolved!
The critical issues at trial
were the identity of the killer, and whether the murder was planned
and deliberate. According to RCMP Ms. Drefko was last seen
as a passenger in Pat's car on April 24, 1999. There was no forensic
evidence linking Pat to the murder.
Since the police felt Pat was
the last person to see her alive they targeted him as their main
suspect. They were unable to find any evidence to implicate
him and arranged a year later to have an undercover operation
sting put in place that is known as "Mr. Big".
On April 03, 2000 the Undercover
Operation targeting Pat Fischer was approved. May 2000,
surveillance began on Pat.
The RCMP Undercover targeted
Pat and befriended him at a time when he was living alone in
Abbottsford, broken up from his girl friend and was having trouble
finding a job. They used his financial and social situation to
reel him in.
May 23, 2000 was the first
meeting between Pat and undercover officer Joe. The first
scenario involved Pat helping to locate a girl that Joe knew,
as Joe was new in town. After this first scenario Pat was
paid money for helping him and Joe gave Pat his number and asked
him to call so they could look again. Pat did not call,
so the RCMP set up another meeting, trying once again to get
Pat involved with them and this time they succeeded.
Over time the RCMP staged little
scenarios to look like criminal activities and paid Pat well.
Joe informed Pat they he would have to be checked out by the
big boss before he could do a major deal as they had to be sure
there was nothing in his background that could jeopardize the
deal. Pat agreed to him investigating him through the undercover
informants, as he had nothing to hide. Joe made a point of letting
Pat know that he was vouching for him and putting his neck on
the line. Pat stipulated that he did not want to be involved
in any violence or murder, he just wanted to make some money
and eventually open up his own business, get married and settle
down.
July 17, 2000 an undercover
operator had Pat count $100,000.00 on a bed in a motel, paid
him $600.00 for counting the money. Then they handed him
$20,000.00 that would be payment for an operation involving loading
boxes onto a plane on a private airstrip. They put the
money in a safe deposit box at the bank in Pat's name and the
undercover kept the key. After the job was done he would
receive the money.
Throughout his time with the
undercover, Pat was led to believe they were his family now.
They bought him clothes, meals, alcohol, took him out to bars
(previously Pat rarely consumed alcohol) & strip joints,
and paid him more money than he could ever possibly make working
a 9-5 job. In fact at one point Pat had obtained employment with
an auto dealer and missed out on a few scenarios as his work
schedule conflicted with the scenarios. Joe remarked- "Pat
you work too much, you could make a lot more money with us. Eventually
Pat quit the auto dealer. They used strong inducements to keep
Pat involved in their so called criminal activities, all the
while knowing that these activities would put him in a bad light
with a jury.
July 25, 2000 with no prior
notice Pat was taken to Surrey and introduced to Mr. Big- the
Crime Boss. Pat described him as a big, intimidating guy.
He was led to believe that he was the head of the Hell's Angels
in BC. He was left there by himself in a hotel room with Mr.
Big and given King Cans of beer to drink. Pat lived in
a different town and with Joe gone had no transportation and
no money. This guaranteed that he was practically held
hostage by the RCMP.
The Crime Boss kept asking
Pat what his limitations were and Pat replied no violence, he
didn't want to get involved in anything he couldn't get out of.
When asked by the Crime Boss if asked, would he whack the guy
nest door? Pat replied No. The crime boss says how do you know,
you might like it, to which Pat replied, No, I did it before
and didn't like it.
Pat fabricated a story about
killing a guy for raping his girlfriend while living in Kelowna
to end the conversation regarding Pat's lack of willingness to
be involved in violence. This story rattled the undercover
in the other room watching the video; here was a murder they
weren't even expecting. This story was later confirmed
by police as being false.
When Mr. Big recovered from
this unexpected information he showed Pat a RCMP Memo on RCMP
letterhead, that Mr. Big's informant in the RCMP had faxed to
him. It said all suspects had been cleared in the Drefko
murder except for Pat and his arrest was imminent. Pat
was shocked, when he read it but then said, "it figured
as Gobeil had signed it". Pat and Constable Gobeil
had a very difficult relationship and Pat did not trust him at
all.
Mr. Big informed Pat that they
could not afford to have any heat coming down on the organization,
especially now with the big job they had coming up (the one where
Pat gets his $20,000). He pointed to the memo and said this is
a big loose end and we don't have loose ends in our organization.
Mr. Big stresses to Pat that Pat knew who he was, what he looked
like, that a big job was about to go down, that Joe had vouched
for him and that Joe's ass is on the line since he brought him
into the organization.
This interview with Mr. Big
lasts for 2 hours, Pat repeatedly denies killing Darci.
If the RCMP is after Pat, it's a problem for the organization,
and problems can be dangerous. Pat realizes that this
heat is a big problem; it is jeopardizing the major deal and
the $20,000. Problems have a way of disappearing in this
organization and besides the organization, the cops are coming
to arrest him on a murder, he never committed, he & his family
have no money to fight this accusation and Pat does not trust
the cops. He is alone in a hotel room, out of town with no car,
with the head of the Hell's Angels waving a paper that he is
a big loose end to the organization, and they don't have loose
ends.
This scenario is common in
the Mr. Big Sting; the police use subtle, veiled threats to frighten
and intimidate their target and elicit confessions. People are
frightened and are willing to confess just to get out of the
situation and also in hopes of still receiving the promised money.
In our country one of our lawful rights is the right to
remain silent, which in turn protects against false confessions.
The Mr. Big Sting takes away our right of silence or an individual's
right to give a confession freely and voluntarily. It takes
away an individual's right to speak or not. The Mr. Big
confessions are not free and voluntary. They are given with inducements
of promised cash, they are deprived of leaving the situation
and they are intimidated into making some kind of confession
in order to get out of the situation.
Pat already knew from Joe how
the organization operated and that all problems have a way of
disappearing but Pat denied killing Darci, he talked about Darci
and told of the day that he gave her a ride to the vet clinic.
Pat tells about his interview
with Gobeil and how he offered DNA and was going to take a polygraph
until his mother talked to a lawyer and advised her not to let
him take a polygraph. Pat didn't trust Gobeil and polygraphs
could be manipulated by the cops.
Mr. Big agreed that they can
be manipulated and asked Pat if he needed his help. Pat
replied "By the looks of this (Memo), I do."
Then Mr. Big said, " If you're telling me you need my help,
then you are willing to tell me you did this" Pat said "No,
I didn't kill Darci, but I need your help."
Mr. Big tells Pat the simplest
way to get the cops off his back is to take the lie detector
test. Pat tells him he doesn't trust the cops as they can
manipulate the test. Mr. Big agrees they can manipulate
the test but he tells Pat that he has an individual in the United
States that is a polygraph operator and he can teach you how
to beat the lie detector test. He would need full details
to design the questions. Pat did not refuse to take the test
because he believed such a test could incriminate him, Pat said
he would have to be guaranteed to pass the test, as he didn't
trust the cops.
It was a constant theme throughout
that Pat had a generally poor opinion of and distrusted police
officers, in particular certain members of the Merritt RCMP detachment.
He stated on a number of occasions that he feared the police
could or would manipulate any polygraph test he might consent
to take. to make him look guilty of the Drefko homicide.
Mr. Big tells Pat "If
you did it, I'll look after it, I'll help you get through it,
but you've got to trust me on that, but if you didn't do it,
the lie detector test is the simplest way to get rid of it, okay."
Do you want me to help? Pat finally gives in to fear and
greed and says "yeah". Mr. Big says, "You
did it, didn't you". Pat nods his head and says Yeah
and then fabricates another story based on rumors about the murder.
Pat tells the undercover that
the east Indian Prostitution ring ordered him to kill Darci or
be killed. That Darci was talking too much and had to be
eliminated.
Pat confessed to strangling
her at his mother's trailer, placing her in the trunk of his
car and then dumping her body on Lilly Lake Road. He had burnt
all the evidence and police would not even be able to test his
car for evidence as he had totaled it off on the same day as
her body was found and that it had been crushed.
The RCMP tell Pat that in order
for them to help him on the lie detector test they need to know
the body location. Pat takes the undercover to Lilly Lake
Road, but is confused on the first trip and on the second trip
he takes them to a location that he feels is the site.
Pat actually takes them to a location that is 100 yards away.
Pat is later arrested and charged with first degree murder
in the death of Darci Drefko.
The offer of help with the
lie detector test is again another inducement provided by the
RCMP. As far as Pat is concerned, arrest is imminent according
to the RCMP memo. Pat's distrust of the police, his lack
of finances are a big concern to him that he will be railroaded,
and this guy is promising to help him, all he has to do is basically
say he did it and this guy will make it disappear, even if he
didn't! What does he really have to lose? They're
coming for him anyway. Also to fabricate evidence such
as a RCMP memo is an oppressive condition that can produce a
false confession.
Confessions should be excluded
when police trickery is so appalling that it shocks the community.
I believe when the Canadian Public is made aware of these tactics
used that they will be extremely shocked that this takes place
in Canada. The US does not allow the Mr. Big Sting; they
see it for what it is and what it can do to innocent people.
This sting puts the burden of proof on the accused, as it puts
the accused in a negative light with the jury already, by having
them perform criminal activities, which in fact affects the presumption
of innocence. This makes the defendant unpopular and can
lead to miscarriages of justice, which has happened in Pat's
case and in others convicted by this sting.
The prosecution relied heavily
on Pat's incriminating statements in the summer of 2000 to undercover
police officers, in the Mr. Big Sting . The Prosecution at trial
tried to use the fact that Pat knew
1. Darci had not been sexually assaulted and that
she was fully clothed when found
2. That there was no DNA under her fingernails or
any forensic evidence at the scene
3. That her body had not been buried but left on the ground
near a log
As additional evidence that he knew too much.
It was proven at trial that
On May 18, 1999 Susan was interviewed by the RCMP about
whether she had ever seen her sister involved in a suffocation
game known as 'sleepers'. She was also told at that time
that her sister had not been raped. Gobeil told Pat on
May 25, 1999 that Darci was not raped. The June 9, 1999
edition of the Merritt Morning Market reported 'there is no indication
of sexual assault at the time of Darci's death
2. When Pat offered Gobeil his DNA he was refused as they
said there was no point because she wasn't raped.
The Merritt Herald ran a story
on the front page on May 19, 1999 entitled Teen's body discovered.
This story stated " Drefko's body was discovered in
a clearing off Lilly Lake Road on Saturday". It stands to
reason that if she had been buried the paper would have stated
that or found in shallow grave.
These were all facts that were known to the public but the prosecutor
still tried to infer that Pat knew too much.
The prosecution stated that
Pat's knowledge of two pieces of "hold-back" information
not disclosed to the public - the cause of death (strangulation)
and the location of the body (by a log off Lily Lake Road, near
Merritt) were fact enough to substantiate the confession. According
to the police the killer would only know these facts.
This holdback was very compromised and not as secret as they
would like to believe.
Holdback #1 Location of
Body
11 horseback riders found Darci's
body. The riders marked the spot with branches and red
vet tape. They went back to the ranch and told the owner's
16-year-old son what they had found, gave him directions and
asked him to contact the RCMP. The 16-year-old also attended
high school in Merritt
On May 15th 1999 there was
also a pre grad party at GangBang Flats and many camped out at
Lilly Lake Road. Her body was found between GangBang Flats
and where they camped out. At trial it was testified to
that at least 4 people saw the police cars in the bush on the
way to the party. There were at least 20 people at the
party. there the evening of the May 15th.
On May 16th a helicopter was
in the air taking pictures of the body site area. Pat had an
accident on Lilly Lake Road when the helicopter was in the air.
The Merritt Herald ran a story
on the front page on May 19, 1999 entitled Teen's body discovered.
This story stated " Drefko's body was discovered in
a clearing off Lilly Lake Road on Saturday". "
The clearing is located about 20 minutes out of town- local teenagers
camping in the forest that weekend noticed police vehicles on
the scene all night Saturday and into Sunday morning,"
There are at least 32 people that we know of that knew the actual
location of the body site let alone how many saw the circling
of helicopters on 2 different occasions.
For the RCMP to decide to use
the location of the body as "hold back" when so many
people were known to know the exact site is ridiculous.
Gossip and Rumors are entertainment for people in a small town.
Darci's death was big news and gossip and rumors were rampant.
Even the local paper asked the town to stop the rumors.
It is clear that Pat would
have substantial knowledge as to where Darci's body was found
between his own sighting of the helicopter over the site, his
knowledge of the area as he trail biked often through Lilly Lake
Road and from all the rumors and press articles. The location
was easy to fit into his false confession.
Hold Back #2 Cause of Death
The RCMP decided to keep the cause of death a hold back fact.
Sargent Beck interviewed Susan (Darci's sister) regarding
Darci's death. During this interview Susan was asked about
Darci's sex life, if she liked kinky sex, if she was into S&M,
if she was into sleepers. Susan replied that she didn't
know about Darci's sex life. Sleepers is a dangerous game
where pressure is applied to the major artery in the neck and
people pass out and get a bit of a high. Possibly Darci
was playing the sleeper game, as there were no signs of a struggle!
Pat testified that in mid June,
about 1 month after Darci's body was found he saw Paul downtown
(Darci's father) and Paul said that Susan wanted to speak with
Pat about the day he had given Darci a ride. Pat then went and
spoke to Susan in her bedroom. Susan stated that she was
upset with the RCMP because they weren't telling her anything,
and they asked her all about sleepers and if Darci did sleepers.
Susan said that she had never seen that done to Darci.
Susan at trial was very evasive
about this conversation with Pat, couldn't remember for sure,
but Susan's dad Paul testified that Susan and Pat did have a
conversation after Darci's death.
Pat at trial stated that his
conversation with Susan (Darci's sister) on the use of "sleepers"
led him to believe strangulation was used. I also believe
the police provided this info to Susan knowing that she would
relay this info to Pat. In the original police interview
after Darci was found Pat said he thought that Darci was stabbed,
shot or mutilated it is only after his conversations with Susan
that strangulation comes up.
Darci was found murdered May
15, 1999; the undercover sting is initiated in late May 2000.
A whole year has passed with info being provided to Pat to make
a convincing confession. Pat used the rumors and
newspaper articles that he had heard around town to make his
confession to "Mr. Big" sound plausible.
Pat made up the story
that the East Indians ordered him to kill Darci or be killed
himself as Darci was talking about the drug and prostitution
ring to the press. The Merritt Herald had stated that Darci
was never interviewed. The first of a series of articles
on this problem did not even appear in the paper until April
28th 1999, this is 4 days after the RCMP believes Darci was murdered!
The RCMP testified in court
that they had used some undercover techniques with the East Indians
regarding Pat's connection with them. Constable Lazenby
confirmed that there was no connection between Pat and
the East Indians. Darci's sister Susan testified that Pat
was not associated with the "East Indians".
Sergeant Adams who conducted the post arrest interview tells
Pat that he is a professional, is highly trained and knows that
Pat's story about the East Indians is bullshit! Yet his
false confession that used these details was used against him
to substantiate 1st degree murder charges.
There was absolutely
no evidence to link Pat to this murder other than this coerced
false confession. The RCMP did a very light review of the trailer
where Pat says he killed her, no forensic evidence of Darci being
there. The floor where he states he killed her, her clothes and
shoes should have been full of wood slivers from the plywood
floor saw dust and gyprock dust as it was under renovation.
Her shoes should have been full of dirt from lack of a sidewalk.
Her clothing and shoes were absolutely clean
Pat says that he killed her
at 6:00 PM, yet she spoke to her Aunt Geraldine between 7:00
8:00 PM and later seen at 10:00 or 11:00 PM by her father
and Moria.
The undercover's in their conversation
with Pat over time made a point of telling him stories on how
to destroy evidence, through burning, making people disappear,
Etc. I feel this was done to psychologically give him fodder
to use in his fabricated story.
Pat's car had not been destroyed
as he thought. Police had seized it and did go over it
completely and did not find any hairs or fibers, etc to link
Darci to his trunk.
The coroner gives a 3-week window for time of death. Darci's
sister testifies that when Darci left with Pat she didn't have
her purse or makeup with her. After her body is found when police
ask for these items Susan tells them they are not there.
It stands to reason that Darci did come back for them after her
ride with Pat. Darci's best friend testified that the
last time she saw her, Darci was hitchhiking to Surrey and had
her backpack and makeup, etc. These items have never been
recovered.
Also the boyfriend of the father's
cocaine dealer was known to do drugs and cocaine with Darci.
Darci's body had cocaine in it, and Pat is known not to do Cocaine.
When Darci's body was found she even had a photo of Moira's boyfriend
with her in a hotel room. It was testified in court that him
and Darci would often fight. He was also arrested for
assault of his girlfriend, Moira after she gave testimony on
the day of the preliminary hearing. When Darci disappeared, he
also fled on April 28, 1999 without getting his welfare cheque,
stole his girlfriend's jewelry and skipped town. He was
arrested by police for the theft. He also failed a polygraph
in regards to Darci but nothing was done about this and now this
man is dead, I don't know how he died, but he's gone and we'll
never know!
At Pat's trials there was a
publication ban in effect until November 15, 2001 when the Supreme
Court of Canada ruled that the details of the undercover tactics
could now be published. "It is in the public interest to
fully explore in the media the police conduct during the investigation
of this crime" stated a defense
Lawyer.
By having a publication ban
the newspaper accounts were one sided, front page and often incorrect
in their facts, that people from the second jury on the street,
had to have already formed an opinion based on the one sided
facts in the paper from the first trial.
The first trial was a hung
jury and was discharged on Thursday October 18, 2001 and the
trial judge directed jury selection for the second trial to begin
on the following Monday. The jury pool was collected by
Jury slips being handed out at a local mall over the weekend.
The second trial was front-page news, with no change of venue,
and another murdered teenager on the day of jury selection (coincidentally
Darci's stepsister Cherish Oppenheim).
Saturday October 13, 2001 Cherish
Oppenheim, Darci's stepsister disappeared, on Sunday October
21, 2001 her dead body was found in a wooded area outside of
Merritt. On Monday October 22, 2001 the first day of Pat's
2nd trial Robert Raymond Dezwaan confessed to strangling her
(Cherish) and was charged with 1st Degree Murder. At the
time of the murder Dezwaan was at large awaiting trial for alleged
unlawful confinement, robbery, and sexual assault of a prostitute
and uttering threats. With two dead sisters left in the
woods the judge refused a change of venue for Pat's 2nd trial!
It was not a good climate to start a second trial. Is there a
connection between Robert & Darci?
The list of atrocities in this
trial goes on and on, from no change of venue after the murdered
stepsister to juror slips handed out at the mall. GPS fraud
and an underage juror as a tryor of fact. The Post Arrest
transcripts being denied to jurors who requested them, but the
prosecution got to cherry pick what they wanted to use from the
post arrest in their cross examination, to the coerced confessions
by the Mr. Big Sting,
Pat doesn't just confess
to one murder to please the undercover, he confesses to two!
Yet the 1st murder is proven to have never happened, so the Prosecutor
states that Pat is guilty of Darci's murder due to his demeanor
when speaking of Darci. He says that Pat looks remorseful and
ashamed of killing her. When in fact Pat is saddened but
it is because he knew this girl, not that he murdered her.
Training programs frequently
lead police to believe that they can identify whether suspects
are truthful or deceptive just by observing their body language
and verbage. Research has clearly demonstrated that relying
on these kinds of clues does not accurately discriminate between
truthfulness and deception. Yet at trial, the prosecutor
repeatedly pointed out that just his body language cried out"guilty".
There are so many areas
in which the law failed and that deserve examination. There
is absolutely no forensic evidence to link Pat to this murder.
Even the RCMP have testified that there is no connection between
Pat and the East Indians, yet he is serving a life sentence based
on his false confession that he was ordered by the East Indians
and planned and deliberated this murder. The verdict of the jury
is not supported by the evidence and is unreasonable.
If only there had been DNA or forensic evidence, then the real
killer could be caught. Until someone comes forward with
information, or this case is investigated, Pat will spend the
rest of his life in jail, wrongfully convicted. He has
already spent 5 years incarcerated and all appeals have been
exhausted.
It is now time for The Mr.
Big Sting to be exposed to the public. Until the Supreme
Court with the Clayton Mentuk case and R V One came forward in
overturning the Mr. Big publication bans, very few people knew
about the Mr. Big Sting. I don't believe that we even fully
grasp the amount of people that are now wrongfully convicted
due to this sting.
I'm sure you've heard about
the Burns & Rafay case, Kyle Unger just recently and as we
speak the Hathaway trial in Saskatoon. Now, you also know
about Patrick Fischer and our quest for justice. We need
this to be exposed, we need a public outcry and we desperately
need people to come forward with info regarding Darci, her whereabouts
during that 3 week period, her friends, her enemies and any info
on the people involved with Darci.
Dominic McCulloch |
Gone too soon: Two months
after Jaime Wheeler's brutal murder, police are still searching
for her killer; [Final Edition]
Dan Zakreski. Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon, Sask.: May 13, 2000.
pg. A.1.FRO
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
