Former MLA Derek Fildebrandt acquitted of charges he threatened to harm teens
Client: Derek Fildebrandt
Charge: Four criminal charges of uttering a threat to cause bodily harm
Defense: Acquittal of four charges of uttering threats to teenage boys who were loitering on the sidewalk outside his home before he chased them away with a cane.
As Chasing four teenagers away from his property while waving a cane and telling them he protects his belongings with a gun wasn’t a criminal act on the part of former UCP MLA Derek Fildebrandt, a judge ruled Friday.
Justice Allan Fradsham said the comments made by Fildebrandt to the teen boys who were hanging out on the sidewalk outside the accused’s southwest Calgary home while waiting for a friend were made out of frustration, not with an intent to intimidate.
“Mr. Fildebrandt’s words were a product of, and an expression of, his frustration at having to repeatedly replace his decorative lawn signs when they were stolen or damaged,” Fradsham said.
“Those words were not intended to intimidate.”
Fildebrandt, 38, was facing four criminal charges of uttering a threat to cause bodily harm in connection with an incident last April 13, in the Crestmont neighbourhood where he lives.
The one-time MLA had just arrived home from a business trip and was sitting down to dinner when he noticed the teens on the other side of a hedge on his property.
“The accused was recovering from a previous injury and required the assistance of a cane when walking,” the Calgary Court of Justice judge said, when detailing the facts of the case.
“He was of the view that in the past, certain of his lawn ornaments had been stolen, and he concluded, wrongly, that the complainants were either stealing or damaging the ornaments with which he had replaced the previous stolen ones.”
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Fildebrandt went outside to deal with the teens, using his cane to assist him, the judge noted.
“He was upset at the time, and at some point raised his cane in the air. I find that the accused said to the complainants: ‘I protect my property and my belongings with a gun.’ ”
Three of the four boys testified at Fildebrandt’s trial that when he came out of his home, he threatened to shoot them. The fourth boy wasn’t called by either the Crown or defence counsel Alain Hepner.
Issues with testimony on both sides, judge finds
But Fradsham said he found the teens’ testimony unreliable, because they’d discussed the events amongst themselves before making police statements.
“Some parts of their respective testimonies were the product of consensus as opposed to actual memory,” the judge said.
Fradsham also said he didn’t accept Fildebrandt’s version of what he said on his lawn that evening.
The accused testified he told the teens: “Stop, come back here or I will call the police,” before they fled and he chased after them in his pickup.
One teen went to the home of a neighbour, Vannessa Lunse, who came outside and asked Fildebrandt if he told the boys he had a gun.
“No, I didn’t tell them I have a gun,” she quoted the accused.
“I told them I protect my property and my belongings with a gun.”
Fradsham said those words, expressed in frustration, “were, at most, a statement that he would take protective measures in defence of his property.”