An Ordinary Decent Criminal by Michael Van Rooy Page A

kidneys and assorted other injuries.”
    Thompson handed over another file from his case and she took it.
    “A report from the Edmonton Major Crimes Division detailing surveillance on Haaviko/Parker. So?”
    “One of my associates in an Edmonton firm has filed a court order for the video tapes before the cops could destroy them. They’re coming. Look at the dates.”
    “Thirteen to ten days ago. Video surveillance of your client?”
    “Right. Shows Mr. Parker loading a truck full of furniture in Edmonton prior to moving here. There’s also a statement from the halfway house where Parker was living up to two weeks ago, it’s just a fax but it includes a medical report from an attending physician. He was recovering from various addictions and there are references to thirty weeks of weekly drug tests, all negative, all administered by the parole board and Corrections Canada.”
    He pulled a little plastic vial with a flat top and bottom out of his case and set it on the desk. It contained a murky yellow solution full of particles. “Urine sample.” He covered it with a piece of paper and made a face.
    I said, “That’s a signed deposition by a nurse who drained the catheter coming out of me. The particles in it are blood, but ignore that. Mr. Thompson asked the nurse to keep the sample and sign across the seal. It’s also dated.”
    McMillan-Fowler raised her voice. “What is this all about? I have a signed and witnessed confession.”
    Thompson smiled. “Bear with me. The police version is that my client killed three men, was injured during the fight, was overcome by guilt, confessed to the police, went to the hospital. Right?”
    She nodded and he went on.
    “Our version is that three men broke in, our client killed them, was arrested by police, was beaten by police, confession was extracted by police, went to hospital.”
    She was tight-lipped. “Do you really think a jury’s going to believe that kind of garbage?”
    “Maybe not. But forget that for a moment. Police videotape showing our client in good shape prior to arrest and medical records showing a bad shape after. That’s one element that leads to the second question. If the police knew our client was injured during the fight, why wasn’t an ambulance called?”
    “Maybe the police didn’t know.”
    “Sure. They searched him, stripped him, and didn’t find the bruises, or anything wrong at all, and my client just started pissing blood and screaming. After eight hours of interrogation.”
    She didn’t even blink and Thompson went on. “We have pictures taken at the hospital, plus X-rays and lots of statements that are evidence. Evidence that shows extensive internal bruising and disabling abuse, which would mean that the police tortured my client by not providing medical attention, perhaps due to ignorance. That’s option one, but there’s a second option.”
    She was flicking through the files and the image of card games stayed with me. “And that would be?”
    “The police tortured my client while he was in custody. Supporting this is the fact that the interview room camera was turned off for more than eight hours. Look for the tape if you want, but it doesn’t exist.”
    I smiled and she quickly turned away while Thompson went on. “In either case, the confession is invalid. In one case, stopping my clientfrom getting medical attention, the counter-charge will be civil. In the second case, the beating, the counter-charge will be criminal and civil. You pick which version you want.”
    The Crown looked at me again out of the corner of her eye while Thompson kept talking.
    “Time of the shootings is listed at 11:07 p.m. Monday. Time of arrest is listed at 1:35 a.m. Tuesday. My office was called by Mr. Parker’s wife at slightly past 3:00 a.m. and the authorities didn’t let me see my client until 9:40 a.m. on that Tuesday.”
    She shuffled her files. “Maybe Mr. Haaviko wanted to confess.”
    “Parker. Mr. Parker. Not Haaviko, not