Man spent 5 months in jail before conviction quashed over concerns he was 'coerced' into plea

An Indigenous man who was allegedly "coerced" into pleading guilty to a serious sexual offence despite evidence that exonerated him walked out of the Calgary courthouse a free man after his new lawyer fought to get his conviction quashed. 

The southern Alberta resident, who can't be named due to a publication ban on the identity of the complainant, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual interference in November. CBC News will identify him as GA. 

GA spent five months in jail before his new lawyer, Kirsten Lancee, brought her concerns to prosecutor Ryan Ziegler, who consented to the release in February while the two lawyers worked out how to handle the situation. 

On Wednesday, Lancee and Ziegler appeared in court before Justice Michelle Christopher. 

Plea 'not voluntary'

Lancee reviewed the history of the case for Christopher, who ultimately vacated the guilty plea and quashed GA's conviction.

GA, who was first represented by lawyer Brian Goldsworthy, pleaded guilty last fall. The plea was done with a Stoney language interpreter. 

The case had not yet made it to a sentencing hearing when Lancee, GA's new lawyer, was retained in late January. 

Lancee told Christopher that she was approached by the Stoney language interpreter who translated for GA at his guilty plea in November.

The interpreter, said Lancee, express concerns about the plea, indicating it was "not voluntary."

Goldsworthy denies wrongdoing

The interpreter provided Lancee with an affidavit based on her own conversations with the accused, his lawyer as well as conversations she overheard between Goldsworthy and GA on the day of the plea. 

"It's very clear that problems had arisen during the discussion of the agreed statement of facts that my client was coerced into accepting these facts and coerced into pleading guilty," said Lancee. 

Goldsworthy has denied any wrongdoing. 

"[GA's] admissions of guilt were voluntary," said Goldsworthy. "He was not under duress or coercion of any sort."

Lancee also learned GA "was in possession of important disclosure" — a recording of the complainant — which was handed over to the Crown and confirmed to be authentic. 

Crown had 'deep concerns'

It was evidence not previously disclosed to the prosecutor. 

"The Crown's role is to review new information at every step … to continually assess its case," said Ziegler. 

In referencing the guilty plea, Ziegler told the court he had "deep concerns about its validity."

Lancee said GA told his previous lawyer about the recording before the plea. 

"I was not aware of a recording that had anything that was validated," said Goldsworthy. 

"There was a recording that a relative had that they couldn't seem to provide which I wanted to review but it was never provided to me."

Section 606

Christopher asked the parties whether Section 606 of the Criminal Code had been canvassed with the accused at the time of the plea. 

That section of the Code is meant to protect against guilty plea wrongful convictions. 

When accepting a plea, the court must be satisfied that an accused is pleading guilty voluntarily, that he admits to the essential elements of the offence and that he understands the consequences of the plea. 

Defence lawyers are required to confirm to the court that the information has been relayed to the accused person and that they still want to proceed. 

'Not properly done'

When GA pleaded guilty, he signed a copy of Section 606, which was filed with the court. 

"That's what the lawyer relayed to you but it was not properly done," said Lancee. 

Again, Goldsworthy denied any wrongdoing. He said 606 was canvassed with his client twice, at the remand centre and at the Cochrane courthouse, both in English and in the Stoney language. 

"He acknowledged he understood all aspects of 606," said Goldsworthy. 

Justice Christopher asked why GA would sign an agreed statement of facts if he was not guilty. 

"My client is a young Indigenous man with no criminal record, no experience with court," said Lancee, noting her client was in custody at the time of the plea. 

"It cannot be overstated how much influence we know members of the court can have." 

'You're free to go'

Lancee says her client is considering filing a complaint against his former lawyer with the law society, something Goldsworthy says he would be "aggressively defending."

Goldsworthy is cited on three unrelated counts of professional misconduct by the Law Society of Alberta. 

At the end of the court hearing on Wednesday, the judge apologized to GA. 

"I'm sorry for the unfortunate circumstances," Christopher said to GA. "I hope you can go forward and put this behind you.

"You're free to go."