Trial of cop shot by fellow officer takes unexpected turn

Proceedings in Nathan Parker’s case were expected to last four to five days

The trial of Niagara Regional Police Const. Nathan Parker took an unexpected legal turn that has the defence considering asking the judge for remedies and questioning the credibility of the Crown’s star witness.

Parker’s attorney, Joseph Markson, zeroed in on a line of questioning during his cross-examination of Sgt. Shane Donovan on Thursday, which Markson believes may show Donovan’s testimony is tainted.

Parker, 55, is the one on trial for assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and assault with a weapon (his retractable baton) even though he was shot 10 times by Donovan and left fighting for his life after being transported to Hamilton in an air ambulance.

Parker pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Donovan was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, but the charges were withdrawn because there was no reasonable chance for a conviction.

The issue that consumed the third day of Parker’s trial was Donovan’s possession of a large cache of files from the province’s Special Investigations Unit, which independently investigates police actions resulting

in serious injury, sexual assault or death.

The disclosure had thousands of pages and contained witness statements, photos and recordings.

While it was appropriate for Donovan to review the information for his case, Markson told the court he should not have retained possession after the charges were dismissed.

Judges typically provide witnesses in trials with exclusion orders so they don’t communicate with each other — or tailor their testimony based on what someone else has told the court.

“This is an unfortunate development because Sgt. Donovan should never have had possession of the SIU file after the charges were dismissed,” Markson told judge Anthony Leach, who is presiding over the trial in Hamilton.

Markson said the SIU disclosure likely included an undertaking that Donovan not use the evidence for any other legal purpose other than is own defence.

“This a very unusual case,” Leach said. “His access to other people’s witness statements doesn’t happen in a usual case. This is exceptional in the sense that Sgt. Donovan was an accused person and, therefore, had access to materials that a witness would never be provided.

“When he accessed those materials and if they influenced his current testimony in the trial are relevant and important issues for the defence. I totally understand that.”

Under cross-examination, Donovan and Markson went over a long list of dates when he accessed the files for the Parker trial.

The dates and times were recorded in Donovan’s police-issued memo book as a record of the hours spent preparing for the trial after his charges were dismissed and he had returned to work.

What Donovan couldn’t provide was much in the way of details about what he did during each of those sessions.

Donovan shot Parker 10 times on a rural road in Pelham on Nov. 29, 2018. Donovan testified that an unhinged Parker pushed, punched and drew his retractable police baton after the two exchanged words over Parker leaving his post for a bathroom break without permission as a collision reconstruction team led by Donovan took measurements and photos of a crash on Roland road.

Markson told the court he believes the metadata on the USB stick will show whether Donovan was telling the truth about his use of the SIU disclosure.

“I would strongly urge your honour to start with the presumption that the materials may contain privileged solicitor-and-client content,” Crown prosecutor Jeremy Tatum said. “All the parties need to know what the potential privilege issues are if the production of it is contemplated.

“At the heart of this is a question about what documents the witness relied on for his testimony. We have some answers to that, but I don’t believe the defence has established enough of what is necessary for a production order.”

The trial continues Friday with Donovan still on the witness stand.