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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Flight or fleeing from police |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
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Year Convicted: |
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Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Canada |
County or Region of Crime: |
Alberta |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Derek Wayne Plourde was wrongly convicted of flight from police in Alberta, Canada. Plourde's prosecution was based on him trying to go around a police vehicle by stating after at the scene when he was arrested, "It was a good run, you got me," which the prosecution argued proved he had the intent to flee from the police. Plourde's defense during his trial was that his comment was referring to him being arrested when he had a active warrent for a parole violation. After a bench trial Derek Plourde was found guilty. Plourde appealed. On November 7, 2017 the Alberta Court of Appeals set-aside Plourde's flight from police conviction based on the insufficiency of his statement to support the intent element necessary to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court's ruling stated: "The Crown concedes that the conviction for flight from the police cannot be sustained, because the trial judge relied (for determining the appellant’s state of mind when driving) on the appellant’s spontaneous, but vague and inconclusive utterance on arrest: “It was a good run, you got me”. The Crown accepts that this statement might equally have referred to the fact that at the time the appellant had been unlawfully at large in breach of his parole obligations, and was not useful evidence that he had been driving as he was in order to evade pursuing police." (R. v Plourde, 2017 ABCA 367) Plourde's conviction for possession of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking -- based on methamphetamine found in his vehicle was affirmed on appeal." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On November 7, 2017 the Alberta Court of Appeals set-aside Plourde's flight from police conviction based on the insufficiency of his statement to support the intent element necessary to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court's ruling stated: "The Crown concedes that the conviction for flight from the police cannot be sustained, because the trial judge relied (for determining the appellant’s state of mind when driving) on the appellant’s spontaneous, but vague and inconclusive utterance on arrest: “It was a good run, you got me”. The Crown accepts that this statement might equally have referred to the fact that at the time the appellant had been unlawfully at large in breach of his parole obligations, and was not useful evidence that he had been driving as he was in order to evade pursuing police." (R. v Plourde, 2017 ABCA 367)" |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Male |
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Information Source 1: |
"R. v. Plourde, 2017 ABCA 367 (CanLII), [2017] A.J. No. 1167 (Alberta Ct of Appeal, November 7, 2017) (Set-aside flight from police conviction based on insufficient evidence.)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abca/doc/2017/2017abca367/2017abca367.html |
Information Source 2: |
"CRIMINAL CODE OFFENCES - Offences against person and reputation - Motor vehicles - Flight from police, By Staff, The Lawyer's Daily, November 24, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/5272/criminal-code-offences-offences-against-person-and-reputation-motor-vehicles-flight-from-police |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org