A judge's decision to find a man who opened fire on the Vanderhoof RCMP detachment not guilty of attempted murder may have generated controversy, but appears to have applied the law correctly, according to an expert on the subject.
Paul Nicholas Russell did not get off completely. In a decision issued Tuesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Francesca Marzari found Russell guilty of the lesser but still serious charge of reckless discharge of a firearm along with five other counts from the Nov. 25, 2021 incident in the community 100 kilometres west of Prince George.
Robert Diab, a professor in the Faculty of Law at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, says he can understand why the verdict would raise questions for many.
"Terminator style, he was shooting at the police station. How could he be acquitted?" Diab said.
But Diab went on to noted the verdict is grounded in solid legal precedent. Since posted online, the decision cites a 1984 Supreme Court of Canada decision, R. v Ancio, also involving a charge of attempted murder, in which the nation's highest court ruled that not only must the Crown prove the accused carried out the act but did so with "specific intent."
In Russell's case, the evidence presented at trial did not establish that he knew anyone was in the building and he intended to kill them.
"It may be the case that he was careless as to whether or he was deliberately ignoring whether anybody was in the building, but that's not the same thing in the law," Diab said. "But it is a very high standard for both murder and attempted murder and all the judge was doing was applying that long-standing rule."
Fortunately, and through a combination of good luck and quick thinking, no one was killed or injured.
One of the bullets fired burst through a mirrored window at the building's west side, went through a computer monitor at the desk of the office manager, who had left for lunch, and then narrowly missed the commanding's officer's head before becoming lodged in a fax machine in the detachment's common area.
Two more rounds were fired through a window at the east end, but by then everyone the building had been retreated to a windowless area further inside the detachment.
Had the incident led to a death, Diab said Russell would likely have been facing a form of manslaughter. As it stands, Russell faces at least four years in prison, although that is likely to be offset by the time he has remained in custody since his arrest on the day of the incident.
The verdict did not sit well with the National Police Federation, the union that represents RCMP members.
"Ultimately, this verdict is insulting and unfathomable given the current environment of increasing police officer deaths and workplace safety concerns they face," NPA president Brian Sauve said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Sauve also claimed that Russell was also charged with assault with a weapon for an alleged incident the week before. Diab said that count could have been brought into consideration only if it was found to have some kind of connection to the matter at hand such as an instance where a gang had made an attempt on someone's life on two different days.
"An acquittal on a very specific issue is not in any way a statement about the value of police lives or about the importance of the safety of police. I think it's as simple as that," Diab said.
