A man accused of letting two dozen high-powered guns fall into the wrong hands has walked free on a legal technicality, the Free Press has learned.
Terry Gale was arrested in 2002 following a raid on his Fort Rouge home. It was the largest weapons investigation in Manitoba history.
Gale's case finally made it to court this month -- but the case abruptly collapsed earlier this week when a judge ruled Winnipeg police breached his rights and conducted an illegal search and seizure.
The Crown was forced to drop all 50 criminal charges against Gale after Queen's Bench Justice Colleen Suche's controversial decision left them with absolutely no evidence.
Defence lawyer Randy Janis successfully argued police were simply conducting a "fishing expedition" when they convinced a magistrate to issue a warrant that allowed for a search of Gale's home.
The fact their hunch proved to be correct was of little consequence, he said.
Suche agreed.
"That pretty much gutted the case," Janis said Thursday.
The Crown then failed in its bid to have the evidence admitted despite the finding of a Charter breach, claiming it wouldn't be in the public interest to dismiss the case.
Justice officials now have 30 days to decide whether to appeal Suche's verdict.
Gale -- a longtime weapons collector -- was accused of losing track of 34 of his 117 legally owned and registered guns and then failing to report to police they'd gone missing.
Police eventually recovered 10 of the guns in connection with various crimes, but the others have never surfaced. They include numerous handguns and even a couple of submachine guns, court was told.
Gale first came to the attention of police in May 2002, when officers found a local biker associate carrying a 44-Magnum revolver that was traced back to him.
Police seized the weapon but took no further action against Gale at the time.
His name surfaced again later in the year during the search for murder suspect Derek Zarichanski, a Hells Angels associate who escaped from the Remand Centre while on his way to hospital to get treatment for a deliberately injured hand.
Police received an anonymous tip a red, 1987 Acura had been abandoned in an apartment block parking lot. The vehicle had been registered to a woman linked to Zarichanski on Nov. 6 -- the day he escaped.
Police set up surveillance on the car for more than 24 hours before a tow truck removed it Nov. 13 for being illegally parked and abandoned in a private lot. Police waited until the car was at a private compound before they moved in for a closer look.
Officers discovered a black attaché case in the back seat, and noticed the doors were unlocked and the key was in the ignition.
Police searched the case and found a black STEN MRK II submachine-gun disassembled inside a green foam liner that contained a registration certificate with Terry Gale's name, according to the search warrant.
Zarichanski was recaptured days later.
Police obtained a search warrant for Gale's Dudley Avenue home based on the fact two of his guns had turned up. They told a magistrate they feared a "gravely serious public safety issue" because of the likelihood other firearms may have gone missing.
Suche ruled this week police didn't have the proper authority to search Gale's home on the limited evidence they had. She said they should have required more substantial proof to get a warrant.
Police seized all of Gale's other guns that hadn't disappeared, which were mostly comprised of military assault weapons, machine-guns and antique and semi-automatic pistols.
www.mikeoncrime.com
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