Montrealer acquitted in shooting death of policeman

globeandmail.com ^ | 14 June, 2008 | TU THANH HA

[marktwain]

It appears that there is still some jury rights in Canada. It is a tragedy that the officer was killed and others wounded, but the power of the State must be kept in check.

[Ron Jeremy]

Good news, but expect the FR boot-licker brigade to show up shortly.

[Dumpster Baby]

On TV they are always seen yelling “police! search warrant! police! search warrant!” at the top of their lungs. In these no-knock raids that go bad there never seems to be a mention that they yelled anything to identify themselves. Curious.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Very sad. But you’re correct.

[wastedyears]

This could be huge.

[VeniVidiVici]

Sounds worse than Keystone Cops.

Bumbling idiots come to mind.

Curiously, nothing to indicate whether the homeowner really was an innocent party.

[JCG]

The verdict was the latest slap in this case for the Laval police.

Would that be the Pierre Laval police?

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[CatherinePPP]

I agree, this was a tragedy and I’m sorry for the family of this police officer, who was probably genuinely trying to do his job. But the man had a right to protect his home and family. It sounds like he very obviously was not out to kill policemen but was defending his home from an unknown stranger. The court got this one right.

[marktwain]

“Curiously, nothing to indicate whether the homeowner really was an innocent party.”

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Well, er, other than the fact that the warrant was based on bad information, the warrant was improperly served, no drugs were found, and the homeowner managed to meet all the draconian requirements for registration of handguns in Canada, no real indication.

[Onelifetogive]

Good news, but expect the FR boot-licker brigade to show up shortly.

People who reflexively take the side of the cops on every thread are idiots...just like the people who oppose them on every thread.

[marktwain]

“Curiously, nothing to indicate whether the homeowner really was an innocent party.”

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Other than those things already mentioned, the jury verdict would come to mind.

[FreedomPoster]

LOL. Well put.

[Tolkien]

Why was the home owner indited in the first place?

Were the remaining bumbling police officers indited and put on trial as well?

[umgud]

I’ve never understood the justification of no-knock raids for drugs. Far too many of them go south.

[B4Ranch]

Basil Parasiris is now being charged with unlawfully having a couple of sidearms stored at his residence that had not been registered for storage at that address.

Then there’s another charge that has something to do with improperly storing the .357 that he used to defend his family with. I think, having it loaded may be against the law in Quebec.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080613.wacquit14/BNStory/National/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080613.wlaval13/BNStory/National/

[marktwain]

“Basil Parasiris is now being charged with unlawfully having a couple of sidearms stored at his residence that had not been registered for storage at that address.

Then there’s another charge that has something to do with improperly storing the .357 that he used to defend his family with. I think, having it loaded may be against the law in Quebec.”

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I wondered about that. I believe it is against the law in all of Canada. They are trying to follow the “English example”, by making self defense essentially illegal with firearms. Once you do that, it is a very slippery slope to making almost all firearms illegal. “Sport” just doesn’t carry any water against mothers crying about their 17 year old “gangbanger” baby being shot.

[JLS]

I certainly agree this is good news. Better news would be the rest of that gang of law breakers being prosecuted for breaking in to an occupied dwelling while armed and firing into a child’s bedroom.

[Cicero]

It sounds like a total screw-up from start to finish. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

The police officer who was killed was not to blame—he was following orders and had no way of knowing that the raid was not legal. But whoever organized this operation deserves to be fired, IMHO.

[2111USMC]

Jurors weren't even told that the judge, Mr. Justice Guy Cournoyer of Quebec Superior Court, had invalidated the search warrant the officers were using.

I'm glad the jury got it right, but WTF?

You would thing a little tidbit like that would be pretty damned important for a jury to know.