Crown Abandons Bathhouse Charges
Changing moral standards cited in decision
Calgary
Herald, February 3, 2005
By Daryl Slade
dslade@theherald.canwest.com
Evolving community standards were among the reasons
listed by prosecutors for staying charges Wednesday against four
owner-operators of a gay bathhouse raided in southwest Calgary in 2002.
Crown prosecutor David Torske said that was one of a
number of factors taken into account in determining there was not a reasonable
likelihood of conviction in a type of case not prosecuted in Alberta since the
early 1980s.
“Society in general and everyone would agree Canada has
changed since the last prosecutions (in Edmonton),” Torske said outside
court.
“The law has to change with the times. Parliament has
specifically addressed that in this offence by saying current, contemporary
Canadian standards are what matters in determining if the community standards
of tolerance have been exceeded or not.”
Provincial court Judge Terry Semenuk had dismissed a
pretrial constitutional application by defence lawyer John Bascom last May to
rule as inadmissible evidence found by city police in the Dec. 12, 2002, raid
at Goliath’s Bath House in the 300 block of 17th Avenue S.W. following a
two-month undercover operation.
The next step was to establish what were the
community’s standards of tolerance and whether they had been exceeded, in
order for the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that criminal
offences had occurred.
Bruce Freeman, a cultural anthropologist at the
University of Calgary, found in a survey as part of his multi-faceted PhD
thesis shared with the court, that the majority of people in the area around
the facility were tolerant of such activities.
“Overall, there was tolerance of the bathhouse, but the
community is mixed in this particular issue,” said Freeman. “There are
people who object to anything gay or lesbian; 25 per cent of respondents
don’t want it.
“Twenty per cent of citizens put men having sex in a
gay bathhouse at the extreme response by police to complaints. Another 20 per
cent said there should be no response and 60 per cent were in the middle.”
Darrell Michael Zakreski, owner of the establishment
since it opened in 1986, had been jointly charged with co-owners Peter John
Jackson and Gerald Stanley Rider with unlawfully keeping a bawdy house. Lonnie
Lynn Nomeland, the manager, was accused of having control of premises used as
a common bawdy house.
Bascom said his clients, who did not attend the brief
hearing Wednesday, were very pleased their two-year ordeal is over. He said
the prosecution could revive the charges over the next year, but that rarely
happens.
“It shows great co-operation between the Crown and
defence, which resulted in this excellent ending of the case for my
clients,” Bascom said. “In this case, we provided to the prosecution all
of our evidence that would support the fact that community standards of
tolerance would not be offended by this activity—and the prosecution reacted
appropriately, I believe.”
The decision also came as a relief to the gay community,
albeit after two years of anger and frustration.
“This (stay) shows as long as we’re not having sex at
high noon on the corner of 8th Avenue and 1st Street, it shouldn’t be anyone
else’s concern what has occurred between two consenting adults,” said
Stephen Lock, board member of Egale Canada (Equality for Gays and Lesbians
Everywhere).
“It’s unfortunate it has taken two years of their (accused’s)
lives to reach the decision we reached two years ago.”
Calgary police spokesman Robert Palmer said his
department had no input in the decision to stay charges.
“The service received a complaint of activity at
Goliath’s. We investigated and after consultation with the Crown’s office
laid the charges,” said Palmer. “Our role effectively ends once the
charges are laid and the other side of the judicial system takes over. So we
don’t have a position on this decision.”
Torske said while a significant amount of resources and
time had been committed to the case by police, the judge and both lawyers, it
was not wasted. “This is frankly what was needed to be done in this case,”
he said. “To arrive at a proper and fair conclusion required a lot of effort
on the part of everyone involved.”
Torske also noted charges against a dozen men found in
the premises as customers had their cases dealt with by alternative measures
shortly after they were charged. All completed their requirements and do not
have criminal convictions.
Another customer found in Goliath’s, who had intended
to fight his charge to the Supreme Court of Canada, had his case stayed late
last year.
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