Martel D. Popescul (born August 10, 1955) is the
Chief Justice of the
Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan. He was appointed Chief Justice effective January 1, 2012, after serving on the Court since 2006.
Popescul was born in
Bengough, Saskatchewan
Bengough () is a town surrounded by the rural municipality of Bengough No. 40, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. A southeastern Saskatchewan prairie town, Bengough is located east of Willow Bunch Lake on Highway 34 near Highway 705 ...
, and lived on a farm near
Kayville in that province for the first several years of his life. He moved with his family to Regina where he attended high school at Campbell Collegiate. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Regina in 1976 and a Bachelor of Laws from the
University of Saskatchewan in 1979.
Popescul articled with the province's Department of Justice, and was called to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1980. He worked as a Crown Prosecutor in Prince Albert for two years before joining Sanderson Balicki Popescul law firm in that city, where he had a diverse practice that included criminal and family law and civil litigation. Appointed
Queen's Counsel (Canada) in 1992 and Queen's Counsel (Saskatchewan) in 2000, Popescul served as a Bencher with the
Law Society of Saskatchewan from 1997 to 2003 and was President in 2001.
Prior to, and even following his appointment to the Court in 2006, Popescul presented at numerous legal education seminars, the Bar Admission Course and the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) program. He was also on the faculty of the Trial Advocacy Workshop for 15 years, and has served on the Workshop's Planning Committee.
Chief Justice Popescul received the Saskatchewan Legal Education Society's Outstanding Volunteer Award (North) in 2005 and its Award of Excellence for Legal Education Development in 2008.
In 2012, Popescul received the
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians during the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.
Controversy
Chief Justice Popescul presided in the case against Battleford area farmer Gerald Stanley in the shooting death of 22-year-old
Colten Boushie
Colten Boushie (October 31, 1993 – August 9, 2016) was a 22-year-old Indigenous man of the Cree Red Pheasant First Nation who was fatally shot on a rural Saskatchewan farm by its owner, Gerald Stanley. Stanley stood trial for second-degree ...
from the
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
Red Pheasant First Nation. Stanley was acquitted on February 9, 2018.
The verdict by the all-white jury
gained national media attention, and resulted in rallies and vigils in locations such as
Saskatoon,
Battleford Winnipeg,
Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Toronto, and
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
.
Clint Wuttunee, Chief of the Red Pheasant First Nation, challenged the jury selection process.
Scott Spencer, the defence attorney, explained that said there was a lack of evidence proving Stanley's intent to kill Boushie.
Saskatoon mayor
Charlie Clark said the case was a "defining moment for this community and this country".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popescul, Martel D.
1955 births
Living people
Judges in Saskatchewan