Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Rick Brown
After a two-day break, the trial of a senior Kamloops Mountie charged with breach of trust by a public officer will resume on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
RCMP Cpl. Rick Brown was charged following an incident in a jail cell on Aug. 18, 2010.
Two intoxicated women housed in a drunk tank had consensual sex and Brown — alongside a number of other Mounties and jail guards — watched via closed-circuit television.
Brown was watch commander at the time. Four days later, he admitted to a colleague in a phone call that he should have intervened in the sex act instead of watching it play out on a monitor.
Brown’s trial began last week and court has been shown video surveillance depicting the hallway outside the guard room on the Kamloops RCMP cellblock.
The tape clearly shows officers laughing and smiling as the incident unfolded.
The first witness on Wednesday is expected to be retired RCMP Staff Sgt. Gary Kerr, the former head of the Kamloops detachment’s major-crimes unit and the first investigator to look into the sex-in-cells incident, followed by Staff Sgt. Royce Roenspies, who was the second investigator on the file.
Following their testimony, the Crown is expected to call two jail guards — Rob Vecchio and Clayton Vandenham.
Prior to the trial resuming, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly is expected to give a decision on an application by KTW to publish segments of the cellblock’s video-surveillance footage, as well as a recorded phone call between Brown and a colleague.
Four people were initially charged following the incident — Brown, constables Evan Elgee and Stephen Zaharia and jail guard David Tompkins.
The charges against Elgee and Zaharia were later stayed, but Tompkins pleaded guilty last year, receiving a year-long probation term.
Brown has been on paid administrative leave since August 2010.
The Crown’s case is expected to be wrapped up on Friday, Sept. 19. It’s not yet known if defence lawyer Glenn Orris will call any evidence.
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