Toronto police officer found guilty of assault in beating of Dafonte Miller

BREAKING: Off-duty Toronto police officer Michael Theriault is found GUILTY of assault, not aggravated assault. He is found not guilty of attempting to obstruct justice in connection to the case. His brother, Christian Theriault, found not guilty on both counts.

Toronto police chief Mark Saunders is expected to address the media this afternoon. Michael Theriault is still on the force; if he is sentenced to jail time, he will no longer be suspended with pay.

Hearing is back. Counsel now deciding when to return. Theriault will remain on bail pending sentencing decisions. Court will next be back July 15 to be spoken to.

Here is the written judgment from Justice Di Luca https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2020/2020onsc3317/2020onsc3317.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQATQ2hyaXN0aWFuIFRoZXJpYXVsdAAAAAAB&resultIndex=1 …

Also, re what comes next: In July 2017, Waterloo Regional Police were called in by TPS Chief Saunders to investigate amid criticism of both Toronto/Durham Police for not reporting Miller’s injuries to the SIU. Waterloo PS will now consult with the Crown to determine next steps.

A jail sentence for a simple assault is rare, but with the pipe as an aggravating factor, a Judge can sentence an offender to between 30-90 days intermittent or suspended sentence. #DafonteMiller #TorontoPolice #Oshawa #DurhamPolice #police #toronto #courts #crime #Justice

White Toronto police officer guilty of assault in 2016 case that left a black teen beaten so badly he lost an eye. But Michael Theriault found not guilty of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. Brother Christian found not guilty. Previous story: http://cbc.ca/1.5627792 

Toronto police chief Mark Saunders now responding to the decision. Says the end of the criminal case means the external review into the Toronto police handling of can resume. That will be done by the Waterloo police. https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2017/07/27/waterloo-police-will-be-asked-to-conduct-an-internal-investigation-into-dafonte-miller-case.html …

Saunders: "Dafonte Miller received a life-altering injury. He lost his eye." Says his heart goes out to his family.

we must never forget all that Dafonte has suffered these last three and a half years, and how much his family has also suffered please support this fundraiser to help Dafonte and his family in their ongoing recovery Dafonte we love you #HereForDafonte https://ca.gofundme.com/f/e5u4kj-dafonte-miller …

Dafonte Miller, his family & Black communities deserve justice. This heartbreaking verdict is not good enough & lays bare how the justice system is fundamentally broken & anti-Black. Systemic change can’t wait.

If you are Black and IN the JUSTICE system, the only outcome is INJUSTICE. #DafonteMiller #BlackLivesMatter

Just GUILTY of assault - NOT any of the other charges?? Dafonte Miller was ATTACKED WITH A PIPE AND LOST HIS EYE. Don't EVER try and tell me this system isn't broken. We must DISMANTLE the archaic, broken, racist "justice" system. #herefordafonte #onpoli #BlackLivesMatterhttps://twitter.com/DesmondCole/status/1276572539612004352 …

There is no justice to be found in the criminal punishment system #DafonteMiller

All my love and support to #DafonteMiller, his family and community.

The Theriault verdict is a difficult one to unpack. Essentially, Di Luca says the brothers probably did all the horrible things they are alleged to have done, but probability is not the standard in criminal cases. "Beyond a reasonable doubt" is. 1/X

Only assault on the part of Michael can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 2/X

This case was a difficult one from the outset: It is important that every accused gets a fair trial, even when the accused is trash. The burden of the state must not be relaxed, even in difficult cases. 3/X

At the same time, we are fighting a community perception and, in large part, the reality of Black lives, that police who commit crimes are never held accountable, especially when the victims of those crimes are Black men. 4/X

This decision does not dispel that perception. 5/X

But Di Luca J. touched upon something important at the outset of his reasons: While this case and others like it raise significant issues in race and policing that should be further examined, that is not his task. 6/X

His task is more focused and narrow. It is to decide whether the Crown has proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt based on the evidence presented in court. 7/X

The place to address multi-faceted social problems is not a criminal court in the context of a particular case. We need an inquiry. We need the legislator to address these issues. And Dafonte needs to sue. 8/X

Back to the actual reasons: It's hard to understand why Di Luca J. chose to break his analysis down the way he did rather than viewing the entire incident as a continuing course of conduct by two aggressors. 9/X

I suspect it has to do with the credibility issues that he found with Dafonte's evidence. They created reasonable doubt re: the absence of self-defence that he tried to contain so that there would be room to convict on something. 10/X

Di Luca J. made some v. imp. observations about Dafonte's credibility, tho. 11/X

Recognizing a justifiable mistrust in the police, he observed that, as a young Black man, Dafonte might well have had good reason to lie to them, & that his credibility should not automatically take a hit as a result of this deception. 12/X

Also of significance is his statement that he carefully considered the racialized context in which this case arose. I'm not sure he did much with this context. He could have done more, but was limited by the evidence. The Crown could have called evidence on this. 13/X