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09/12/06
R. v. Trott: A Case Study By Lee Hanlon
Criminology Column, The Cascade News The case: On May, 7, 2000 David Timothy Trott was arrested in Kamloops, BC and charged with the kidnapping and murder of nine year old Jessica Russell. Now, in my opinion, this would not have happened if Maple Ridge Provincial Court Judge Susan Antifaev did not release Trott on May 2, 2000. Accused's Criminal Profile: April 21, 1999 - arrested and held at Surrey Remand. May 3, 1999 - released on bail. June 29, 1999 - sentenced in Maple Ridge Provincial Court to one count of carrying a concealed weapon (a handgun). Sentenced to one year probation and prohibited from possessing a weapon for 10 years. According to the criminal code section 90 (2) (a) Trott should have been sentenced to a jail term of 5 years. August 10, 1999 - arrested and held in Surrey Remand to await court appearance.
August 26, 1999 - transferred to Frasier Regional Correctional Center (FRCC).
Prison guards at FRCC said Trott was more than just a troublemaker.
They considered him so dangerous that three times they went in with the tactical team, suited up in body armour, helmets and masks to subdue him
during altercations.
One guard was even quoted saying, "We couldn't believe it when we heard he had been released. He was really mentally unstable, very volatile. We don't understand why someone didn't realize he was dangerous." August 31, 1999 - pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon (a knife) and the lesser charge of forcible entry, sentenced to 5 months concurrently in FRCC. Section 2 of the Criminal Code defines a weapon as 'any thing used, designed to be used or intended for use (a) in causing death or injury to any person, or (b) for the purpose of threatening or intimidating any person.
Trott breached his probation order - not to possess a weapon for 10 years. Trott wasn't even charged for the breach!
As for the charge of forcible entry (an offence that the former BC Premier, Glen Clark and former Attorney General Ujal Dosanjh wanted to get tough on), ccc s. 73, Trott should have been sentenced for 2 years. November 10, 1999 - walked away from the Ford Medium Security Jail in Chilliwack shortly after transferring there.
November 18, 1999 - re-arrested and sentenced to serve an extra 10 days consecutive. According to ccc s. 144 - prison breach - Trott should have been sentenced to 10 years.
November 29, 1999 - still at FRCC on previous convictions, appeared in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court related to events of May 23, 1998, found guilty of possession of stolen property and theft over $5000 and sentenced to another 30 days. According to ccc s. 355 (a) Trott should have been sentenced to at least 10 years for possession of stolen property and for theft, ccc s. 334 a 10 year jail term should have applied as well. December 17, 1999 - released from FRCC. January 16, 2000 - charged with assault and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, Elisa Fillo.
January 18, 2000 - charged in theft of a Dodge Sprint. January 26, 2000 - charged in theft of a Plymouth Voyager, returned to custody at FRCC.
May 2, 2000 - appears in court on all three January offences, convicted and sentenced to 1 year probation time served plus 1 day. According to ccc s. 266 (a) - assault - a sentence of 5 years should have applied, and for uttering threats to kill, ccc s. 264 (2) (a), a sentence of 5 years should have applied as well. The sentence for theft of both Sprint and Voyager, according to section 334 should have been 10 years. May 2, 2000 - released from custody. If Trott had been sentenced according to the Criminal Code, he would be in jail for at least 5 years based on the concealed handgun charge, 9 year old Jessica Russell would be alive today. April 2001 - Trott has been declared unfit to stand trial and has been sent back to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute facility in Port Coquitlam for 45 days for treatment and further evaluation. This ruling has come down from the infamous Abbotsford Provincial Court Judge Jill Rounthwaite.
As of May 24, 2001 Trott still refuses to talk. According to the BC Review Board held at the Forensic Psychiatric Centre in Port Coquitlam he is still unfit for trial.
The Board ordered Trott to be detained in FPC for another 4 months. Trott was expected to come back before the review board again in September 2001. As of July 26, 2001, Trott, according to the BC Review Board, was found fit for trial. However, there will be another fitness hearing at the court. In my opinion, Trott is playing the system to the hilt. Unfortunately the courts had not sensed this. Nor did the review board.
September 18, 2001 - David Timothy Trott has been found fit to stand trial in the kidnapping and murder of nine year old Jessica Russell. During Trott's remand
he assaulted a nurse and a charge was laid. As the result of his conviction of this assault,
Trott received a six month sentence. At trial Trott pled guilty to the abduction and first-degree murder of nine-year-old Jessica Russell, more than two years after the little girl disappeared on her way to school.
With this plea comes an automatic life sentence with no chance for
parole for 25 years. If a similar sentence were given prior to the murder of Jessica then Jessica would be alive today.
My opinion....Trott should have been designated as a 'Dangerous Offender'. And if Canada still applied capital punishment, Trott should have been executed.
Unfortunately we live in a barbaric world where more rights are given to the accused upon conviction and less rights to the unborn.