The Cst. Ferguson manslaughter trial has always puzzled me and continues to do so. Back in 1999, Cst. Ferguson was in a life or death struggle with a prisoner in a cell area. The prisoner grabbed his gun and Cst. Ferguson fired 2 shots at the prisoner during the struggle. In the eyes of the court, the first shot was self-defence and the second constituted manslaughter, despite the judge saying it was admittedly from his training. This conclusion by the court baffles me. Although, I only know what I’ve read in the decision and the papers about the case, it seems that Cst. Ferguson was in a life or death struggle (which it is when someone grabs your gun), why does one shot over another differ in a response? What does this say for a trained ‘double tap’ response to a lethal force situation? Are we supposed to wait to see what the first bullet does first, then continue if necessary? You can begin to see the trouble in assessing a deadly struggle in such a way.
Nevertheless, Cst. Ferguson served time in jail for the ‘crime’, was paroled and yet an appeal was just finalized at the Supreme Court level. From the latest appeal, the Supreme Court has said that the trial judge shouldn’t have skirted the mandatory minimum prison term for manslaughter with a firearm due to the circumstances of the case. So, he may be going back to jail? Its not clear. It is certainly a wierd one.
As an aside: it would be interesting to see how many of these cases have appeared in recent years (firearm struggles in cell area, resulting in deaths). Perhaps there needs to be a policy change in Canada where firearms should be locked up before entering all police detention areas. It is the case in prisons throughout the country, but I don’t believe its a standard with the police facilities. (Some have certain areas restricted, but others aren’t clear).
Tags: conviction, Cst. Ferguson, manslaughter, police officer, RCMP, reasonable force, Supreme Court
