Travis Patron found guilty of two counts of assault
Travis Patron found guilty of two counts of assault
Travis Patron found guilty of two counts of assault
A jury has found Travis Patron, former leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party, guilty on two counts of assault causing bodily harm.
Patron assaulted two Regina teachers in the 1900 block of Victoria Avenue on Nov. 2, 2019.
It took about 90 minutes for the jurors to reach a unanimous decision.
A sentencing hearing for Patron is scheduled for July 20th. Patron plans to represent himself.
PATRON CLOSING ARGUMENTS
Court heard closing arguments in the trial of Travis Patron, a former leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party.
Jury deliberations began on Thursday afternoon.
Patron faces two counts of assault causing bodily harm. He allegedly assaulted two Regina teachers in the 1900 block of Victoria Avenue on Nov. 2, 2019.
Patron, representing himself, addressed the jury during his closing remarks, which is the most court has heard from him after he declined to cross examine two of the crown’s three witnesses. He also declined to testify himself or submit any evidence.
Patron began his remarks by stating the indictment against him is “manifesting without merit and destined to fail.”
“My submission is multi-faceted, but I’ve consolidated it into a single faith-based argument,” Patron told the jury.
Patron’s address to the jury referenced the Queen, a religious text, the bible and a verse from Deuteronomy.
He argued the court fails to recognize him as a defense lawyer, which prevents him from making his case.
Shortly after he started his remarks, the judge interrupted Patron. She eventually dismissed the jury to speak with the accused.
All discussions between the judge, the crown and Patron are under a publication ban.
In the second half of his closing statement, Patron poked holes in the crown’s witness testimony from Regina Police Service Cst. Jessica McBride.
Patron argued that Cst. McBride did not witness the altercation and questioned why the officer did not detain the suspect the night of the alleged assault. He told the jury that McBride “falsely testified” that the suspect was wearing a black jacket, and she “departed from impartiality” by transporting the alleged victims to the hospital in her squad car.
The judge interrupted a second time while the jury was present to remind him to refrain from speaking about matters that are not evidence when Patron began discussing jury selection.
“That is not appropriate and it is unlawful,” the judge told him.
Patron ended his remarks by asking for forgiveness on both counts.
“To forget is human, but to forgive is divine. Be willing to forgive,” he told the jury before sitting down.
CROWN CLOSING ARGUMENTS
Crown prosecutor Ryan Snyder asked the jury to find Patron guilty on both charges during his closing remarks.
The alleged victims, Amanda Ruschiensky and Allison Tokarz, both testified they went out for drinks at Victoria’s Tavern following a tribute concert at the casino. They said they met Patron at the bar.
At the end of the night, the women told court, they were outside Ruschiensky’s friend’s apartment building waiting for a ride home when Patron approached them on the street.
He offered them a ride home, the women testified. After repeatedly declining his offer, Ruschiensky said Patron “shushed” her.
“Nobody shushes me,” Ruschiensky said to him.
At that point Patron smacked her in the head, Ruschiensky testified.
Ruschiensky ushered Tokarz into the apartment building foyer, following a couple that had let themselves in with a key card, she said.
During closing remarks, Snyder once again played surveillance video of inside the apartment building foyer that showed the alleged assault. He told the jury the video is an “important” piece of evidence.
The video shows two women entering the foyer. When one goes to leave, a man walks inside and knocks one of the women to the ground and grabs the other. He hits both of them again before walking out of the building.
Snyder said the entire assault happened in less than one minute.
The surveillance tape matches the events that both Ruschiensky and Tokarz described in their testimony.
The crown submitted a phone call and screenshots of text messages sent to Ruschiensky as evidence, showing Patron’s attempts to apologize to Ruschiensky for the assault.
Ruschiensky suffered a concussion from the assault, she testified. Tokarz broke her right wrist. Both women testified they have suffered from emotional stress since the alleged assault.
During the judge’s instructions to the jury, she asked the jurors to disregard some of Patron’s claims in his closing statement.
She clarified that Patron was given “ample opportunity” to cross examine the alleged victims and told the jury that the crown has not acted “maliciously” like Patron claimed in his remarks.
The judge told the jurors that it is not their job to “forgive” Patron, but rather it is their duty to be the judge of the facts in the case.
The jurors began deliberating on Thursday afternoon. They will be sequestered until a verdict is reached.
Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck Friday by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.
Last month was the Earth’s sixth-warmest July on record in 143 years, according to the U.S. federal agency that studies oceans, the atmosphere, and coastal areas.
While problem gambling affects a minority of the Canadian population, more than 300,000 are at “severe” or “moderate risk” for gambling-related problems, according to a Statistics Canada study of gambling behaviour.
The night before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests, the prime minister’s national security adviser told him there was 'a potential for a breakthrough' in Ottawa, court documents show.
A Quebec Superior Court judge has temporarily suspended two articles of the province's new language law, saying they could prevent some English-speaking organizations from accessing justice through the courts.
The City of Toronto is investigating a power outage that left a large swath of the downtown core including office buildings, a major mall and a university campus without electricity yesterday.
The World Health Organization says it's holding an open forum to rename the disease monkeypox, after some critics raised concerns the name could be derogatory or have racist connotations.
A federal judge was to decide as soon as Friday whether to grant the Department of Justice's request to unseal the warrant that authorized the FBI to search former U.S. President Donald Trump's Florida estate. Attorney General Merrick Garland declared there was 'substantial public interest in this matter,' and Trump backed the warrant's 'immediate' release.
The suspect at the centre of Saskatchewan's recent Amber Alert was arrested in South Dakota for a possible illegal border crossing and kidnapping, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
What started as a simple mistake of addresses has led to a nearly year-long fight for an 88-year-old Manitoba man over a medical suspension of his driver's licence – one he fears may have more to do with his age than his health.
Plans for the opening of a second Calgary Farmers' Market location were announced in 2018, but COVID-19 and supply chain issues pushed back the official opening roughly two years.
Investigators have released the name of a 26-year-old Barrie man shot to death Thursday afternoon while attending a funeral for another man shot dead in Toronto earlier in the week.
All eastbound and westbound lanes of Hwy. 417 are closed between Metcalfe Street and Carling/Kirkwood Avenues for the replacement of the Booth Street Bridge. The closure will continue until Monday at 6 a.m.
Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck Friday by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.
Despite a police misconduct probe that found a high-ranking B.C. officer had stalked and harassed his ex-girlfriend for years, a criminal investigation into the case did not result in charges.
An independent investigation has concluded that the Vancouver Whitecaps' response to allegations of misconduct by former women's coaches Bob Birarda and Hubert Busby Jr., was serious and “appropriate.”
Three community organizations will receive a combined total of $550,000 from the federal government to raise awareness and reduce stigma about monkeypox.
A Quebec Superior Court judge has temporarily suspended two articles of the province's new language law, saying they could prevent some English-speaking organizations from accessing justice through the courts.
The former chairperson of the STM board of directors will lead the independent investigation into the abrupt cancellation of the Montreal Pride parade last Sunday.
Environmental compliance officers have fined a Victoria exterior washing company $11,000 for releasing a roof de-mossing agent into a creek in Sidney, B.C., killing hundreds of fish.
A plaque commemorating Viola Desmond was revealed Friday by the federal agency at the former Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, N.S., where she was forcibly arrested while watching a movie on Nov. 8, 1946.
In the age of doorstep deliveries, porch pirates who steal items from front doors have become common, but one North Bay mom says she was scared by a recent encounter with one.
A wellness check on a person living on Churchill Avenue in Wawa last month led to the discovery that the victim was being forcibly confined in their home by three people.
CTV News has learned one lane has reopened and one person has been airlifted to hospital following a fiery crash Friday morning involving a tractor-trailer where Highway 69 turns into the 400.
The number of active cases in the Region of Waterloo increased nearly 25 per cent since the region's last update, according to the Region of Waterloo Public Health weekly dashboard update.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health says one person was bit and another was exposed after a rabid bat was found in the Melancthon area just north of Shelburne.
