
Letter from Wilfred Hathway
I have voluntarily removed the name of the operative until the issue can be addressed in court, Tuesday morning. I arrived at this agreement during a telephone conversation with undercover RCMP legal counsel Jeffrey Hayes who will serve me with the appropriate documents to appear in provincial court Tuesday morning at the beginning of the evidence hearing for Wilf Hathway.
I have changed the operative's name to Martin until this matter is resolved.--Sheila Steele>
June 2, 2005
Hello,
It has come to my attention that you may be forming an "interest" in the circumstances of my past. If so, I thank you for your interest and any inquiries you may have or may plan on making into this matter.
Being charged with murder is something I daresay, most of us are ill equipped to deal with financially, emotionally and mentally. The thought of spending the next 25 years in prison is excruciatingly painful on many levels, and by far, my estrangement from my daughter is the most unconscionable. I have already missed her 3rd year and my trauma runs deep.
I am totally innocent of the heinous act of the murder, which took Denver Crawford's life in 1998, and there is absolutely zero credible inculpatory evidence of my guilt!
1998:
I lived in the upper room suite of a three story "A" frame. The two tenants on the middle floor had introduced me to Denver, who owned the house and lived on the main floor.
I had met the second floor tenants in Alcoholic's Anonymous, a recovery program that I had been heavily involved in up until a few months prior to Denver's murder. At that time, February of 1998, I had returned to sporadic drinking and by May 1st, I checked myself into a local detox center, as I knew I was in alcoholic trouble.
The second floor tenants understandably wished me and my "problem" to go away and influenced the landlord to proceed with evicting me. I agreed in principle with their efforts and made arrangements with Denver to vacate the premises by the end of May.
I returned from the detox center on May 10th, 1998 and unfortunately felt compelled, or made the foolish decision to resume drinking and swallowing prescription medications (Xanax, a potent benzodiazapine) The second floor tenants called for my immediate eviction and a date of May 14th, 1998 was set with the rentalsman, to effect this eviction. I met with the rentalsman and Denver and to the best of my knowledge; we discussed my moving out at the end of May.
On Wednesday May 12th, 1998 in the evening, I had a prescription for 30 Xanax pills and was in a local bar drinking. An ex-girlfriend recalls I was "too drunk to talk" I left the bar at approximately 1:00 a.m. "falling" into a cab and when let out at my home, was seen to "stagger" up the front steps, "barely able to walk".
Statements by the ex-girlfriend, the cab driver and second floor tenant Patrick Nippi, all paint a picture of a "severely" intoxicated man. Patrick Nippi further states that I entered 323-9th street east, went immediately up to my suite and no more noise was heard upstairs or down for the rest of the evening, until the morning.
Around 5:00 a.m. on May 13th, 1998 Wally Dion, the second floor tenant, states that he heard me rising and that I went downstairs. He further states this was a usual habit of mine, as I would go outside to smoke early in the morning, as per house rules. My memory of Tuesday night is non-existent, and my memory of Wednesday morning is equally lost to me.
I found Denver's door ajar sometime after 5:00 a.m. (presumably on my way back into the house after my cigarette) and I approached Denver's suite. I found Denver lying on the floor, just inside the door with obvious assaults to the face and neck area and dried blood and congealed blood surrounding his head and face. I dared to step inside the suite for a closer look. At that time, (according to the statement I made to police later), I took the remains of a mickey bottle of Rum off of Denver's dining room table and went up to my suite and called 911. At that time I believe I swallowed the remaining pills I had picked up the previous night.
The police and medical people arrived and both the second floor tenants as well as myself were taken to the S.P.S. for questioning. We were all read our rights; however, my interview was the only one that was recorded. I gave no inculpatory statements, stating only that Denver was a good man and I had no idea who could have done this.
No physical evidence linking me to this crime has ever been located, no weapon was ever found, no witnesses saw the murder or any subsequent proceedings stemming from the murder. For whatever reasons the S.P.S. decided I was the prime and only suspect. Brian Dueck (malicious investigator), decided I was a murderer!
Sgts. Glen and Read of the S.P.S. firmly believed I was guilty in spite of statements as to my incapacity on the night in question. I was wearing the same clothing on Tuesday night as I was wearing Wednesday morning when the police arrived on the scene.
The case did not offer up any evidence against anyone and nobody was charged. Glen and Read, believing in my guilt, approached my father, a retired physician of measurable credibility, and told him they had "credible" evidence to suggest I was planning on murdering him and my then alive mother. This act of extortion, to this day, has never been disclosed by the S.P.S. and their credible source, never revealed. This was the first blatantly malicious act of the S.P.S.
Sometime later, after serving a short sentence for alcohol related offenses, I was released from the Saskatoon Correctional Centre. Upon my release, I was arrested on municipal ticket violations and brought to the S.P.S. where malicious investigator Brian Dueck told me that he was going to get me no matter what! (For the murder of Denver.)
During my incarceration of the previous few months, Sgt.'s Glen and Read had visited me at the Correctional Centre to inform me that they "knew" I had murdered Denver. At that time, I invoked my right to remain silent on that matter, but not before I offered to take a polygraph. That visit has never been disclosed by the S.P.S. Brian Dueck persisted however, when he authorized an extraordinarily expensive contract to be paid to the R.C.M.P. "E" division, in return for a confession! The R.C.M.P. website indicates they are professionals at the task one of their finest, Al Haslett, has been quoted as saying "Our scenarios are so effective, we can sting anyone." One can only imagine how Milgaard, Morin and Sophonow might feel about that!
December 2003:
The S.P.S. sends Sgt. Yonkman and Faber out to Kamloops, where I was living, to do a profile on me with the help of the R.C.M.P. They found that I spent most of my time with my daughter, when I wasn't working out at the Y.M.C.A., performing janitorial duties, or attending school. (I was completing a B/A in Psychology.)
The sting consisted of 3 ? months of consecutive weekends, whereby I was placed into a sophisticated series of "scenarios". The object of the sting was to give Brian Dueck his "confession". I was hired by R.C.M.P. Cst. Martin to drive cars for him as he informed me he was a car broker. The money was far better than my janitorial work and he allowed me the luxury of working around my custody schedule. (I had ? custody of my daughter with my weekends free.)
Some weeks into the sting, I quit my legitimate job at about the same time Martin informed me he was a member of a criminal organization and asked if I would still be interested in moving vehicles and perhaps a suitcase or two on the greyhound. Foolishly, I agreed.
The first two months working for Martin there were no conversations that were taped; however it is later disclosed that Martin notes claim I state I had killed a man first, a few years ago, 4 years ago and that I hadn't been in Saskatoon for about 5 years. That I had killed a man 6 years ago in Saskatoon.
The disclosure further shows that on March 9th, 2003, Sgt. Yonkman secured a warrant to intercept conversations between Martin and myself and for the next 1-? months, several conversations (lengthy) are recorded between Martin and myself. At no time on any of those tapes, do I admit to killing anyone.
The R.C.M.P. presumably frustrated with their lack of evidence gathered, send the "real" R.C.M.P. to my house. This visit has not been disclosed. The R.C.M.P. state that there is a Sgt. Yonkman in Saskatoon who may want my DNA and that the S.P.S. wanted to verify where I lived. I said I would comply and that I wasn't moving anywhere.
I then told Martin about their visit and he feigned being upset, lest I had some "heat" on me from this '98 murder. I told Martin the truth, that I had only been a suspect and not to worry: no guilt, no heat! Shortly thereafter the sting progressed and began to take shape. The scenarios of the crimes increased, midnight runs of supposedly smuggled guns from the U.S.A. (Automatic weapons.), an abduction of a women and death threats to her, her partner and their child, if they didn't "pay-up". Counting of $180,000.00 at one sitting, sales of 100 credit cards as well as various other crimes.
In one scenario Martin and I are going to meet the Big Boss at Hy's Steak House in Calgary, Alberta and the "bodyguard" intercepts us, allows Martin into restaurant however stalls me and takes me to the bar for a beer. (The message was clear, you're not allowed to identify the "Big Boss".) Also at this time, Martin (off tape) refers constantly to how people "disappear" if they "cross the family!"
It is also made very clear to me that I had met too many of the "crime family" and was in too deep to just walk away. I did however feel and had planned to do just that. After seeing Martin abduct the women and after he had told me that he had murdered people before. I somehow felt that if I had full custody of my daughter, I could just walk away.
At this time, (obviously off tape), Martin (around the mid April period) tells me "Hey, I was having a few drinks with the Boss and for whatever reason, I told him you were good for that thing in '98 that the cops visited you about." Martin claimed that he said this to the Big Boss to:
Make Martin look good for recruiting me.
Make me look good for getting away with murder.
Martin then states, "So if and when you meet the "Big Boss", "square the story that you were good for the '98 thing and we'll just carry on." SQUARE THE STORY!!! Also at that time a "big scene" of $20,000.00 was being offered to me simply to drive a vehicle from Vancouver to Montreal to be followed by a lavish Mexican vacation!
I had decided that I would postpone getting out of this organization until after the "big score" at which time I would coordinate my plans to take my masters degree in psychology as my G.P.A. was sufficiently high to do so and I had glowing references from my professors.
On May 1st Martin and I were returning from Vancouver Island to Vancouver and he staged a call whereby apparently the "big boss" wanted to "interview" me to see if I'm o.k. for the big score. Martin reminds me to "square" the story.
In the afternoon of May 1st, 2004 I am taken to the Fairmont Hotel, strip-searched, told where to sit, and I am to meet the "big boss" who dismisses his bodyguard and Martin. The interview is taped, I "square the story" stating that I was "good" for the 1998 murder of Denver Crawford. Although the "big boss" asks about all sorts of details about the crime, the best I can do is give him a completely fabricated, off the top of my head, story. A totally false story!
The details that I supply the R.C.M.P., the details the S.P.S. has paid for, are totally and unequivocally false when compared to the findings of the original investigation. The so called "confession" is not an admission of guilt but a directed, extorted, enticed and totally false rendition of what happened to Denver Crawford in 1998.
I was arrested shortly thereafter, and brought to Saskatoon where I met Yonkman who asked me if I had discussed 1998 with anyone. I said I had, but upon threat of death. (I made this statement to Yonkman without any knowledge of Martin etc, being involved in an undercover operation wherein I was the target.)
As it turns out the first lawyer I contacted had previously however unsuccessfully defended Jean Aubee` who was the target of this same type of "sting" by the same officers. By chance I also had the dubious honor of hearing from former member of parliament Morris Bodner, who told me and I quote, "These guys put innocent men away for life." Upon hearing this I then told him that he had just got himself a front row ticket to my trial. He said, "no problem, I've got the case right in my office."
I finally ended up contacting injusticebusters.com and through Sheila Steele I was put in touch with Richard Klassen and Angela Geworsky. They (injusticebusters) instructed me to hire Robert Borden, who now acts as my councel on record. Richard, Angela and Sheila are working tirelessly to provide a useful organization to all the evidence, to Robert Borden.
I've been incarcerated for over a year, I still don't have a preliminary hearing date set, and the crown (Brent Klause) has not disclosed much of what shall be needed to show this community that Denver Crawford's murder is no closer to being solved today, than it was in 1998. If anything, it has eliminated a possible suspect, that being myself. This case is a clear and present example of a malicious prosecution, plain and simple.
Wilfred Hathway.
Sounds like injustice to me!An obvious flaw in Mr.Big stings making them too coercive!This letter was written 3 years ago.It is just asking for wrongful convictions when cops pull this kinda crap!
THE sister of a West Vancouver man serving a life sentence in the United States for killing three members of his friend's family is exploring the police methods that were key to her brother's conviction in a new documentary.
West Vancouver filmmaker Tiffany Burns hopes her film, Mr. Big -- which premieres next month at the Vancouver International Film Festival -- will get people talking about and questioning the use of RCMP stings used to get confessions from people suspected of committing serious crimes.
Burns, 36, who moved back to West Vancouver after a career as a TV journalist in eastern Canada and the United States, is open about her personal motivations for making the documentary, which was spurred when her younger brother Sebastian Burns and his friend Atif Rafay were convicted in 2004 of the brutal 1994 murders of Rafay's family in the Rafays' Seattle-area home. Confessions to the murders made during an RCMP sting operation were considered a key part of the case, which shocked West Vancouver where the two men had attended high school.
Prosecutors said the two men killed Rafay's father, mother and autistic sister to collect insurance money.
"I don't hide the fact of where I'm coming from," said Burns, who visits her brother in his Washington state jail when she can. "It's obvious I was inspired by my brother's situation."
But she added her documentary is not just about her brother's case.
What she wants is more public debate about the RCMP techniques that can lead to confessions like the one that landed her brother behind bars.
Most people who hear about confessions think "How could someone confess to a murder if they didn't do it?" said Burns. "But it happens. It happens all the time."
Burns' documentary focuses on an often-used undercover police scenario in which police pretend to be members of an organized crime gang, gradually gaining the trust of their suspect and involving him in their supposedly illegal activities until the suspect is told he has to come clean about his past so the gang can "take care of" any problems. That's where the confession to the gang leader "Mr. Big" comes in.
But Burns said there is a real risk under the scenario --not used in either the United States or Britain -- of getting a false confession, based on either fear of the supposed gang members or the suspect's hopes of big financial payoffs.
Burns said most people would probably be surprised at the lengths the Mounties will go to get their man.
"They will offer money. They will use lots of alcohol and threats and intimidation to get confessions," she said. "They will beat people up. It's all pretty scary stuff."
"Granted the scenario gets guilty people," she said. But Burns, who explores several other cases involving Mr. Big confessions in her film, said there's too much risk of also nabbing people who aren't guilty.
Jay Straith, a criminal defence lawyer on the North Shore, said there have been longstanding legal debates about aspects of the Mr. Big confessions.
Most of the time, the scenarios are used only in cold cases where police have strong reason to suspect a person committed a crime, but don't have enough independent evidence to get charges approved.
The key for police, however, is to avoid "too much deception" or an "air of coercion" that would taint the confession, said Straith.
"They look for the accused to blurt out something that only the killer would know."
The Mr. Big scenarios often work, he said, because "a lot of the people involved in criminal activities are of finite intellect. They probably will never see this documentary. They tend to be gullible people."
When confessions are played for juries, "It's a very powerful piece of evidence," said Straith. The key for judges and juries to decide, he said, is, "How much weight can you give it? How reasonable a doubt do you have to have?"
Neil Boyd, a Bowen Island resident and a professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University, said he thinks there is a legitimate place for the Mr. Big stings in police investigations.
"They are looking at very serious, violent crimes," he said. "Police don't pick people at random."
Boyd doubts many wrongful convictions come from false Mr. Big confessions. Problems with the reliability of other evidence and eyewitness accounts are more usually to blame in those cases, he said.
But Boyd said it's healthy for the legal system to have the debate that Burns' documentary could inspire. "We don't want police to be agent provocateurs."
Hank Reiner, a regional Crown counsel who has prosecuted several high profile cases involving Mr. Big confessions, is convinced the police technique works.
Mr. Big confessions have to be backed up by other evidence, said Reiner, who four years ago prosecuted West Vancouver contract killer Mickey Smith on five murder convictions, including the slaying of North Vancouver's Rossano (Wally) Dekanich in his apartment doorway in 2001.
"It's ridiculous to think simply having a confession would result in a conviction."
Reiner added in the cases he's dealt with, "There's just no question at all that these were true confessions."
In some cases, he added, RCMP have also attempted to get a confession through a sting operation and realized they've got the wrong guy.
A certain amount of fake -- not real -- criminal conduct on the part of investigators is also necessary, he said. "You have to establish a credible presentation. If you're trying to get someone who's a contract killer, you can't present yourself as someone who's a law professor."
Judges also have a key role to play, said Reiner, in giving the jury careful instructions about how to weigh a confession. "They didn't just fall off a turnip wagon."
Straith said from a defence lawyer's perspective, the charge to the jury was a key issue in the Burns and Rafay case, which was tried in front of a U.S. judge and jury less familiar with the RCMP technique.
Burns still believes her brother is innocent, although she acknowledges most people she meets -- as well as Canadian investigators involved in the case -- don't share that view.
Burns said she's excited that her film will be shown first in Vancouver, where the case made headlines for years.
But "the documentary is not to prove my brother's innocence," she said. That will be up to judges and lawyers in the U.S., she said, where an appeal of the convictions has recently been filed.
Zaccardelli draws scorching criticism after he urges for legislation that would give police the freedom to break the law while working undercover.
Critics fear the new legislation could lead to an abuse of power by authorities, but Zaccardelli argues the strategy, which would grant immunity to officers committing lesser crimes, could help police deal with organized crime in Canada.
Take a stand. Write letters and emails to people who matter in the upcoming election.This technique is under scrutiny and major review so lets put an end to it.Make the police do real investigations and stop being criminals. Please sign if you are legally a Canadian citizen as your signature will disqualify if your not! ...................................................................................................................
Your Name
Your Address
Your Email
Your telephone
The Date
(Politician/media name)
(Title)
(Address)
Dear Sir: (or Madame)
The Mr.Big sting must be made illegal.
This scenario, in which undercover RCMP officers pose as crime bosses to elicit murder confessions, is already responsible for many false confessions as well as wrongful imprisonment and/or convictions in Canada. These cases include Andrew Rose, Jason Dix, Kyle Unger and Clayton George Mentuck.As well as a huge number of malicious prosecutions involved with these sting's, suggest something is unjust about these proceedings.
The Mr.Big scenario is considered entrapment in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Yet here in Canada, the Supreme Court has ruled that as long as these methods of gathering evidence are not shocking to Canadians, this evidence will be admissible in our courts. The Catch 22 is that the knowledge of how this sting actually works has been kept secret for years, thanks to editing in the courts and by media blackouts routinely requested by the RCMP.
The Supreme Court does not speak for me: I am shocked. In the interest of the Canadian Justice System, I urge you to outlaw the Mr. Big sting.Also to look into the Wilfred Hathway Case as it seems to be the next wrongful conviction in Saskatchewan injustice.
Regards
Your Name
cc: your local MP%u2019s name
your local newspaper editor%u2019s name
...................................................................................................................... Federal
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