In the closing days of his trial, a Sturgeon County man pointed the finger squarely at Morinville RCMP members, accusing them of perjury, incompetency and deceit.
Barry Lupyrypa, facing charges of assaulting and obstructing a police officer, wrapped up his closing statements Friday.
Lupyrypa, who is representing himself, finished his closing argument around 4 p.m. Justice Dennis Thomas said given the late hour he would not have enough time to properly weigh the evidence.
Thomas said he would hand down his verdict on Aug. 31, his first available date.
Throughout his cross-examination and defence, Lupyrypa accused the RCMP of fabricating testimony and called several times for perjury charges to be filed against an officer.
Const. Daniel Kehler approached Lupyrypa on Feb. 11, 2006, who was sitting in a farmer's field near the Sturgeon Valley Golf Course.
In his closing argument Lupyrypa repeatedly accused Kehler of inventing the story and challenged his decision to even approach his vehicle.
"I am going to submit that Const. Kehler made up this story at the Morinville detachment to justify his actions," he said. "He perjured himself to get these charges before the court."
The officer asked Lupyrypa to get out of his vehicle when he spotted a rifle in the passenger seat, but Lupyrypa refused.
The officer drew his weapon and Lupyrypa exited the vehicle. Lupyrypa claims the officer then pepper sprayed him without provocation.
The officer testified he attempted to arrest Lupyrypa for obstruction and Lupyrypa pushed him.
Kehler said he only pepper sprayed Lupyrypa after the man struck him.
During his closing argument Lupyrypa said he never struck the officer and was terrified throughout the experience.
"I feared for my life that night. It is going through my mind that I am going to die in this field a mile from my home."
He also pointed out inconsistencies between Kehler's testimony and a civilian ride-along who said she saw Lupyrypa's vehicle already on the side of the road. Kehler testified he saw the vehicle pull off.
Lupyrypa often compared his experience with high-profile cases of alleged police misconduct like the Dziekanski case in Vancouver. He said he has a fundamental mistrust of police officers.
"I know police officers murder people all the time and get away with that."
He called on the judge to charge Kehler with assault and attempted to portray him as a renegade cop.
"One day Const. Daniel Kehler is going to kill someone because of his recklessness with his pistol."
Crown prosecutor Gerry Bowring, brought in from Manitoba specifically to prosecute the case, said Kehler's actions were unquestionably in the right.
"It is quite clear Const. Kehler represents the best ideals of how police officers should react when confronted with a belligerent person."
He said it was Kehler's restraint that prevented the incident from becoming much worse.
"The accused came out of that event lucky with the way he was behaving, very fortunate indeed."
Witnesses denied
During his defence Lupyrypa called only two witnesses. An area farmer who rented the plot of land and had given Lupyrypa permission to be there and retired Cpl. Real Menard, who was on duty that night.
Menard testified he initially felt Kehler might have made some mistakes. He believed the entire incident would have been avoided had it not been for Lupyrypa's reaction.
Lupyrypa declined to call himself to the stand and was denied his attempt to call two other officers.
The Crown and a RCMP lawyer objected to Staff. Sgt. Stu Fraser and Sgt. Chris Narbonne being called because they were not on duty on the night in question.
Lupyrypa argued the officers were both involved in the file in the months between the incident and when the charges being laid.
Lupyrypa was not charged until Sept. 2006, seven months after the incident.
He argued the force was trying to keep the men off the stand to avoid embarrassing information coming forward about the RCMP.
"They are paranoid about more damaging information coming forward to the public."
