(OTTAWA) Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown was indeed involved in an altercation that led to his forced leave, but he flatly denies reports that harassing behavior on his part led to his the incident at a hotel in Arizona.
The mystery hovered after the Supreme Court of Canada announced last Tuesday that the western magistrate had been “furloughed” on the grounds that he was the subject of a complaint currently under consideration in the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC).
Friday morning, the Vancouver Sun published an article detailing the events that allegedly took place at the chic Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa, where the magistrate gave a speech on January 28 at a gala where former judge Louise Arbor was honored.
At the hotel bar, Judge Brown allegedly “harassed my friends” and “talked about how important it was”, and followed some of them to their hotel rooms, according to the account says Jon Crump, veteran of the United States Marine Corps, in an interview with the Postmedia chain newspaper.
This is where the veteran would have lost his patience, according to his version of the events. “I said to him, ‘You’re obviously drunk and the girls are scared of you.’ He pushed me. […] I pushed him away, then punched him twice in the face and he fell to the ground. »
Police were called, and a report was written. The officer who showed up at around 1:30 a.m. wrote that Mr. Crump had a “quarrelsome, hostile and [il] appeared to be under the influence of alcohol,” according to the police document that Postmedia claims to have seen.
Judge Brown defends himself
The magistrate appointed in 2015 decided to break his silence to defend himself on Friday.
“Originally, my intention in this matter was not to comment and let the process take its course. In light of the misrepresentations made in the media by Mr. Crump, I am compelled to respond,” he said in a statement released by the law firm he retained.
Judge Russell Brown explains that he was invited to the table of a group, which the veteran then joined, and that when it was time to leave the room, “Mr. Crump objected to my joining the group, and suddenly, without warning or provocation, he hit me on the head several times”.
About an hour after the incident, the man contacted the police, “and in an apparent attempt to avoid facing the consequences of my attack, he falsely described me as the instigator. The evidence I provided to the Council corroborates my account of the incident,” adds the magistrate.
He concluded by expressing his disappointment at having plunged the institution into embarrassment.
” Never seen ”
The case that shakes the columns of the highest court in the country is “unprecedented” in Canadian annals, notes Stéphanie Chouinard, assistant professor in the department of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston: “It is even, to my knowledge, unheard of. »
The highest court in the country, which prides itself on being transparent, should it have made this announcement earlier? “We are in somewhat uncharted territory. Perhaps we tried to spare the goat and the cabbage, by letting the investigation follow its course without there being too much external influence on the process ”, advances Mme Chouinard.
Noticed absence
The Court waited until Tuesday, this week, to announce that the magistrate had been on compulsory leave since 1er last February. Her absence from the bench of nine judges had been noticed, and she was beginning to raise questions.
Neither institution provided details about the nature of the complaint, which was reported on January 29 and assigned to British Columbia Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson, to which Justice Brown replied on February 20 last.
The Supreme Court declined to comment on reports that surfaced on Friday.
The CCM was not much more vocal. “The Board is proceeding in a timely manner and in accordance with its review procedures. The Council will not comment further on this matter at this time,” said its spokesperson, Johanna Laporte.