Now that they jury has begun deliberations, we learn what they weren't told .
When you read this article it should make your blood boil that Mr. Zameer was even charged. And that the Crowns still continued despite putting these three lying cops on the stand... and continuing to prosecute the case. And the Judge had "heated exchanges" with the Prosecutors over all of this.
Now I know why I was so confused by the testimony of the three officers and how it simply couldn't makes sense with the physical evidence. Never mind why would this slight, mild mannered acoountant out with his pregnant wife and little boy
deliberately repeatedly run over an identifiable police officer... nor why he would flee police in the first place. He had done nothing wrong until they rushed his car and started pounding on his windows!
Please read the entire article... I only snipped a few bits out of it below for those who are too lazy to read it all before spouting off about how the police are always right etc...
AND THE LEAD CROWN PROSECUTOR OVERSEES ONE OF THE FOUR TORONTO CROWN ATTORNEY'S OFFICES!!!!!!
All of you Law and Order right wing types who think the police can do no werong. this proves you don't ahve to do anything wrong to find yourself facing a couple undercover vagrant looking cops banging on your car door at midnight in an underground parking garage... and ending up being railroaded into spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in oegal costs. Thats if you can affor it and don't end up spendin ght enext 25 years in prison as a cop killer.
Seriously... think that through. Imagine finding yourself in that position. Our Toronto Police and Crown Attorney's office have proven it can happen to anyone just out enjoying Canada Day with their family...
What the jury didn’t hear at the murder trial of Umar Zameer
As Umar Zameer’s jury retired to begin its deliberations on Thursday, it did so without knowledge of several heated courtroom exchanges between the judge and prosecution.
As Umar Zameer’s jury retired to begin its deliberations on Thursday, it did so without knowledge of several heated courtroom exchanges between the judge and prosecution.
www.thestar.com
...What the judge found perplexing was that surveillance video and two experts had undermined the testimony of three police witnesses who claimed Zameer drove directly at Northrup as he stood in a laneway with his arms raised. Relying on the officers’ evidence to convict Zameer of murder was “problematic,” “inconsistent” and based on “speculation,”
When a police officer is killed in the line of duty, it is
treated as first-degree murder under the Criminal Code, but to convict Zameer, the Crown still had to show he knew Northrup was a police officer wearing plainclothes, and that he acted with the intent to cause bodily harm that could cause death or was reckless as to whether death ensued.
But what about the “elephant in the room,” Molloy asked prosecutors a few weeks into the trial, with the jury absent. “What motive would this person have to deliberately run down a police officer in front of three other police officers when he has done nothing wrong?”
That gave the Crown few avenues to argue Zameer ran Northrup over deliberately, flummoxing the judge.
“Three officers swore to that … is the Crown going to stick to that position,” she challenged the prosecution. “All the experts say he can’t be seen … there’s just no evidence at all.”
that two experts — one a Toronto police employee called by the prosecution — contradicted the eyewitness accounts of Northrup’s colleagues, who testified Zameer ran over Northrup as he stood in front of his BMW with his arms raised.
The traffic collision reconstructionists both agreed Zameer was reversing when he knocked Northrup to the ground and that the tall, 300-pound officer remained there when Zameer drove forward over him,
unable to see the ground in front of his BMW. (During her final instructions Thursday, Molloy told the jury it was “rare” for two experts to agree.)
Both experts told the jury that what the officers said had happened wasn’t possible based on video surveillance footage showing Northrup was neither standing up bracing for impact nor in the laneway where the officers said he was hit.
She even appeared to mock the prosecution for its inability to pinpoint how the 55-year-old officer’s body ended up where it did. “
Was he levitated somehow?” the judge sarcastically asked Cantlon as Simone sat nearby with her face buried in her hands.
“How can you suggest to the jury that they should find Zameer guilty, when their theory is contradicted and has no support in the evidence?”
Earlier this week, as Molloy and the lawyers held final discussions on those instructions without the jury present, the judge revisited her “problem” with the Crown’s case for first-degree murder.
The theory relies on three officers testifying Northrup was standing in front of the vehicle with his arms raised and saying “Stop, police!” before a man with no criminal background made a choice to deliberately run him down.
“Didn’t happen,” the judge said.
“Can’t imagine the jury finding that that happened,” she continued. “That’s the problem with the murder charge.”
“I understand, your honour,” Simone responded. “That’s the evidence.”
“The evidence is what the evidence is,” the judge said as the lawyers prepared to pack up. “The unfortunate thing is that we’ve spent all this time talking about murder.”