Hey folks, if you'd like to cover Edmonton courts and justice/crime issues at CBC, now is your chance because I'll be on maternity leave shortly into the new year. Applications due before midnight on Dec. 1! cbcrc.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/CBC_Radio-Ca...

With the Alberta Crown Attorneys' Association going public about their concerns and questions over Edmonton's chief and assistant chief Crown suddenly out of their jobs, Justice Minister Mickey Amery says there was "no government involvement whatsoever" in the move. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Alberta's justice minister has tabled a bill to invoke the notwithstanding clause to shield a suite of legislation from legal challenges. The laws in question restrict the rights of transgender people in access to health care and sports, and affect K-12 education of all students. #AbLeg #Abed

It's been a long road for court cases from the 2022 Ertale Lounge mass shooting, but one man has been found guilty of 1st-degree murder. There were 4 shooters total — 1 going to trial in 2027, 1 still wanted on Canada-wide warrants, 1 has never been identified to this day. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Belatedly sharing from last week: this is a story I started following when I was a business reporter, and I'm still dealing with it as a court reporter: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

ASIRT says there are no grounds to charge four Edmonton police officers involved in an arrest where a man died after he was restrained, handcuffed and briefly hogtied while lying face down on the ground: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Pregnant Albertans ARE eligible for a free COVID-19 vaccine this fall... But doctors say the messaging has not been clear and they worry people don't know this is the case Latest from me👇 #abhealth www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Full list of books on the chopping block in Edmonton public schools — more than what was going around the internet yesterday — here, courtesy of reporting from @jantafrench.bsky.social and Emily Williams: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This story on the Saskatoon Police Service is crazy. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

An EPS officer has pleaded guilty to an assault charge laid after junior officers patrolling with him reported an unwarranted use of force where he hit a man in the head who had been sleeping in an LRT station. The officer's sentence is a six-month conditional discharge: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

One of the men accused in the "Project Gaslight" arson and extortion targeting South Asian homebuilders in Edmonton has pleaded guilty, putting new details about the scheme on the public record for the first time: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Somehow I missed that former Calgary city councillor Joe Magliocca was sentenced last month after being found guilty of fraud: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Ken Porter, a former track coach in Edmonton and Ottawa, was found guilty yesterday of five historical sexual offences — the judge found he used track-side "athletic massages" as a pretense to sexually touch three teenage boys in the 1970s: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

A police officer is on trial for assault charges from a 2019 arrest caught on video from the Royal Alberta Museum — this happened right by the courthouse and down the street from EPS headquarters: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I had such a busy day with this case I never shared any of the stories, but I got to watch the bail hearing for Roy Sobotiak, who's now released after more than 35 years behind bars for the 1987 murder of Susan Kaminsky. Story from the awesome Wallis Snowdon: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Greg Christenson, the president of the Edmonton development company that owes 200+ seniors and their families large sums of money they put into life lease contracts, has been charged under the province's Consumer Protection Act: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I've been very fired up about how much pricier court searches I need to do on a regular basis just became, but thankfully @jonnywakefield.bsky.social is here with the big-picture story on the potential access-to-justice issues for everyone: edmontonjournal.com/news/crime/a...

**Alberta's measles case count has now topped 500** 19 new cases reported today 18 are in south zone, one is in Calgary zone. Total to date = 505 (since the outbreaks began in March) www.alberta.ca/measles

An EPS officer has been given a formal reprimand almost six years after he was caught on video shoving a handcuffed man's head into a wall, then slamming him against a police car: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This is a significant finding from Alberta’s privacy and information commissioner and confirms what many FOIP users have long suspected.

I've been completely falling down on sharing my work lately, so here: I've been watching the trial of Oli Olason all week, a former EPS officer accused of excessive force in a 2021 arrest that was caught on video: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The fatality inquiry is finally done in the incredibly troubling case of TJ McConnell's 2021 death inside the Edmonton Remand Centre after he pleaded for mental health and addictions treatment. My colleague Wallis Snowdon has been on this story for years: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I'm about to call in to a U.S. District Court hearing in Portland for Noah Madrano's sentencing — he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl from Edmonton and taking her over the U.S.-Canada border in 2022 in the trunk of his car. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The question of who killed Ivan Stamp was a mystery for almost a decade, until Edward Robinson was arrested following an EPS "Mr. Big" sting in 2022. He was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to manslaughter: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I've been trying to get this story done for a while. It's probably the heftiest, most complex fatality inquiry I've ever read, and the judge still concludes there are unanswered questions, almost 14 years later: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Justin Bone is in court this week, accused of a break-in and robbery from 2021 — the year before he was charged in a double homicide in Chinatown. He's representing himself after going through 4 lawyers, one who was on the record twice, then left again last month. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Connor McDavid

Big update from the excellent Julia Wong on her story about vulnerable people being put in hotel rooms, when some of them needed much more support, including long-term care: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Former Alberta justice minister Kaycee Madu has been reprimanded by the Law Society of Alberta over his 2021 phone call to the EPS Chief minutes after receiving a traffic ticket. Sanction just confirmed after a brief hearing this morning. Background: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Retired Court of Appeal of Alberta Justice Peter Martin — a highly respected figure among the province's legal community — has been appointed to review ASIRT and Crown prosecution service policies when it comes to criminal charges against police officers: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I never anticipated still seeing headlines about former Calgary councillor Joe Magliocca's expenses five years after my former Calgary Herald colleague Meghan Potkins and I reported on them. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I did some of the initial digging to find out more about Ashley Burke, whose death just before the end of 2024 has been confirmed as a homicide, and my colleagues Wallis Snowdon and Travis McEwan stepped up to speak to her family members for this story: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Through a court decision, EPS Chief Dale McFee's reasons for suspending three officers without pay in 2022 are now public, as well as the police commission's review of the allegations in each case — stuff that's normally not released: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The city shut down the apartment building where 20-year-old security guard Harshandeep Singh was killed. About 60 residents were sent to temporary housing, mostly hotels, and there's assistance for permanent housing, but many say they aren't sure where they'll end up. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Just in from EPS: There was a homicide at the Edmonton Remand Centre on Wednesday. 26-year-old Nathaniel Burchant died from "blunt head injury" after a report of "an assault between two inmates." If there haven't been any further deaths since the end of October, this is the 5th death in ERC in 2024.

Remember last week when Edmonton police commissioner John McDougall said he's stay on commission until the end of 2026 from Portugal? Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis now says he expects him to step down once the move is permanent next year: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Fabian Skani, a Cold Lake First Nations man, was shot and killed by RCMP on Saturday in Cold Lake, his family members say. His brother Farron Atkinson says he and Fabian are both Sixties Scoop survivors. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

A day parole hearing for Travis Vader is currently underway. He's currently serving a life sentence for manslaughter in the killing of Lyle and Marie McCann in 2010, whose bodies have never been found to this day. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Boyle Street has discontinued its plans for a supervised consumption site in the Old Strathcona neighbourhood after a city development board denied their application for a permit: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #YEG #AbLeg

An Edmonton homicide case from more than a decade ago is finally coming to an end, with Edward Robinson pleading guilty in the death of Ivan Stamp yesterday — police reopened the 2013 case in 2021 and got a confession during an undercover "Mr. Big" operation: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I'm once again riding my colleagues' coattails, assembling the dogged reporting of Julia Wong, Travis McEwan and producer Kory Siegers for an update on the death of 20-year-old Harshandeep Singh last week: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

In September, the Alberta government announced the only overdose prevention site in Red Deer would be closed by spring 2025. New details are now emerging about a "staggered" approach to shutting it down that could see 24-hour access cut down to 12 in less than 4 weeks: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

As of this week, I'm officially CBC Edmonton's courts and justice reporter. I've been filling in quite a lot over the last few months, so I'm really excited about doing this full time. Reach out if you have Edmonton/northern Alberta-related justice and policing tips, and maybe see you in court.

I’ve been covering a very sad case lately. Here are some of the updates from a few of the multiple accused who continue to wind their way through the courts. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

NEWS: A Red Deer judge whose dispute with a defence lawyer ended in the latter being jailed admitted he should have done more to “de-escalate” the situation. He offered a qualified apology to the lawyer and declined to cite him with contempt of court.

A very disturbing case unfolding here, with the extremely rare circumstances of details from a bail hearing not being under a publication ban — huge credit to CP's Aaron Sousa for driving out to the Stony Plain courthouse to report what happened: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

BREAKING: EPS Chief Dale McFee will be retiring as of February 2025, the Edmonton Police Commission just announced. He'll be leaving the post after six years — has been chief since Feb. 1, 2019.

“CBC News is adding up to 25 journalists in more than a dozen communities that are underserved by broadcast news outlets, with a focus on Western Canada.” “This investment follows the CRTC’s approval of Google’s plan to compensate Canadian news organizations for the use of their news content.”

I've been a bit behind on this story, but because of that I was able to read a lot more of the court documents and the receiver's first report on their activities. But at the end of the day: plans to relocate the Camrose Casino to Edmonton are very much still in play. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The way I was fighting for my life trying to write breaking news about pension management funds yesterday: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...