What’s in a name?
For a Kamloops man, it could mean more time behind bars.
The Crown has appealed six sentences handed down in 2013 in provincial court to someone named James Rocky Whitford.
The problem is, the James Rocky Whitford who was jailed for terms ranging from 14 to 60 days is not a real person.
He is actually 31-year-old Eric Charlie. The alias wasn’t caught until a court-ordered DNA sample for Whitford matched Charlie and authorities in Ottawa notified Kamloops Mounties.
During an appeal hearing in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Frank Caputo said Charlie, who has a lengthy criminal record, received relative slaps on the wrist because of Whitford’s lack of a history.
“At the end of the day, we have somebody who wasn’t sentenced according to his criminal record,” Caputo said.
“That evidence was not before the court by virtue of the fraud to the court by the the person James Whitford or Eric Charlie or whatever we want to call him.
“The two are one in the same and they should be sentenced accordingly.”
Defence lawyer Kevin Walker said the burden of knowing an accused’s identity should lie with the Crown, not the alleged criminal.
“The Crown views the injustice is related to the fact the lengthy criminal record of Eric Charlie was not put before the various judges and they put the blame on Mr. Charlie,” Walker said.
“But, in my submission, the blame lies on the Crown.”
Walker said the issue goes to a person’s right to silence and principles against self-incrimination.
Court heard Charlie was fingerprinted each time he was arrested as Whitford, but local Mounties never ran the prints to determine if they matched anyone else in the system.
“The police took no steps to utilize the fingerprint identification and photographic identification available to them,” Walker said.
“They didn’t pursue due diligence in establishing his criminal record.
“There was a failure by police and the Crown to communicate information. It’s about due diligence.”
B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke is slated to give a decision on the appeal on Wednesday afternoon.
Charlie, meanwhile, remains behind bars awaiting trial on six counts of obstructing police stemming from the Whitford arrests.
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