William Brydges was a Canadian man whose

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

for murder resulted in the leading

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

case '' R v Brydges'' on the right of a detainee to access

duty counsel A duty solicitor, duty counsel, or duty lawyer, is a solicitor whose services are available to a person either suspected of, or charged with, a criminal offence free of charge, if that person does not have access to a solicitor of their own and u ...

. His case was a Canadian precedent, and created significant controversy after the

upheld his acquittal. He was found to have been denied access to an attorney because he was not informed of legal services available to him when he told police he could not afford a lawyer. This case had nationwide ramifications, requiring all police officers to advise a person under arrest of the availability of legal services even if they couldn't afford them.

Arrest

William Brydges was arrested on December 16, 1985 in connection with the murder of Mrs. MacLeod, which took place on March 29, 1979. Brydges was 16 at the time of the murder and 22 when he was arrested. Although he was a resident of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, he was arrested in

Strathclair, Manitoba Strathclair is a locality in the province of Manitoba in Western Canada. It is located northwest of Brandon, Manitoba and is on Highway 16. It lies within the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead The Rural Municipality of Yellowhead is a rura ...

while visiting his stepfather. On December 16, 1985, Detective Harris of the Edmonton City Police and Corporal Munro, a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

officer arrested William Brydges. Brydges was brought to the nearest police station (in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

) for questioning.

Questioning

According to the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...

, Brydges had the right to talk to a lawyer, and had the right to be informed of this. As outlined in the Charter of Rights, Brydges was first informed of the reason for his arrest. Directly after, the detective said to Brydges: "you can phone one from here if you want. If you know one

When Brydges said that he did not know any lawyers, Detective Harris asked if he wanted to try to call one. Brydges asked if they had legal aid services in Manitoba, and Detective Harris responded by saying: "I imagine they have a Legal Aid system in Manitoba. I'm...not familiar with it but...." Brydges then said: "Won't be able to afford anyone, hey? That's the main thing," and said that he did not want to talk to a lawyer at that time. While being questioned, Brydges admitted to taking some items from the scene of the murder.

The trial

Brydges was tried by the Honourable Allan Wachowich of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, sitting with a

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

, from January 12, 1987 to January 20, 1987.

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

proceeded to introduce

circumstantial evidence Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact—such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly—i.e., without need ...

to the jury until the fourth day, when a ''

voir dire (; often ; from an Anglo-Norman phrase meaning "to speak the truth") is a legal phrase for a variety of procedures connected with jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a Trial, legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or Qu ...

'' was held to examine the admissibility of statements made by Brydges to the Police. At this time the Trial

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

ruled that Brydges'

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

under the

's section 10(b) had been violated. Counsel for Brydges then moved that the case be taken away from the

because there was no evidence upon which a reasonable jury, properly instructed, could return a verdict of guilty. Crown counsel made no submissions in respect of the motion, and the trial judge, after considering the motion, instructed the jury to retire and return with a verdict of not guilty. The jury returned with a verdict of not guilty. William Brydges' original acquittal was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada as they agreed with the original trial judge's ruling of throwing out the interrogation evidence under Section 24(2) of the

. The judge ruled that he was not given his right to a lawyer; instead, he was in essence told that he would only be granted this right if he knew one or could afford one. Due to this violation of the charter, the judge ruled that the admission of the evidence would put the justice system in disrepute. The evidence was ruled inadmissible because the police had a duty to inform Brydges of legal aid services.

Appeal

The case was later appealed by the Court of Appeal of Alberta, and a new trial was ordered. In the appeal the judge stated that Brydges did not waive his right to a lawyer, instead, due to the context of the conversation between Brydges and the Police, it was agreed that he was merely considering the cost of a lawyer. Additionally, the judge said that Brydges didn't understand his Charter rights and was not capable of waiving them, since it was the duty of the police to inform him that he had the ''right'' to seek legal counsel.

External links

R. v. Brydges (1990) at Lexum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brydges, William Canadian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Canada People acquitted of murder Living people Year of birth missing (living people)