FELGER, LAWYER QUESTION VIDEO EVIDENCE

An Abbotsford lawyer is puzzled about the way certain tapes from
cameras at the Abbotsford provincial courthouse were handled.

Defence lawyer John Conroy, who is representing local marijuana
activist Tim Felger, will make final summations for Felger's trial
Monday.

Felger faces charges of assault, assault by trespass and causing a
disturbance in connection with an incident at the courthouse in April
2002. A sheriff contends Felger bit him on the hand when he tried to
stop Felger from handing out marijuana rally pamphlets.

The two cameras at each end of the hallway and lobby in the court
caught the incident on tape, though Conroy and Felger never saw it.

"Our understanding was, the tape was put right back into the machine
and re-recorded directly after the incident," Conroy said. "It was not
saved for 30 days."

But a spokesman for the Ministry of the Attorney General says a
sheriff's policy states all tapes from the cameras are kept for at
least 30 days. [All calls to the Abbotsford sheriffs' department were
deferred to the spokesman, who cannot be named.]

"The video with Mr. Felger's altercation on it would have been kept
for 30 days," the spokesman said.

But Conroy, checking his trial notes, said the videotape was viewed by
a now-retired Abbotsford police sergeant who surmised it wasn't
satisfactory and gave it back to the sheriff's office.

"We assumed everything would be on the tape," Conroy said. "That would
have been the best evidence."

He argued it should be up to the court to decide what is satisfactory
for evidence and what is not. Judge Bob Lemiski "ruled against us and
took the [police officer] at his word . . . he surmised we were
speculating what was on the tape," Conroy said.

The ministry spokesman maintained tapes are kept for 30 days for
routine events and longer for "significant events."

"The tapes may be used for surveillance and evidence," he said. "The
cameras are positioned at either end of the hallway and the
altercation was in the middle of the hallway. The system is fine - you
just can't capture everything [on video]."

A brand-new Multiplexor camera system was installed in the courthouse
in 2000, the spokesman said, so the system is still fairly new.

Conroy, again checking his notes from the trial, noted a deputy
sheriff called the recording system "antiquated" and described the
tape as moving in a "jerky fashion" and having "dead spots" on it.

"It would seem to me they should get a new system if this one is that
bad," Conroy said.

Felger had his own opinion on the matter.

"These problems probably all could have been solved if the videotapes
were kept," Felger said.

"It seems it's convenient to have a sloppy system."