B.C. judge says RCMP may have acted illegally in terror case, orders disclosure
VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court judge says there is evidence the RCMP acted illegally during a high-profile terrorism sting operation and has ordered police to hand over legal documents.
Justice Catherine Bruce hasn't ruled yet if the RCMP entrapped John Nuttall and Amanda Korody into plotting to blow up the B.C. legislature in 2012, but says the Mounties may be guilty of knowingly facilitating a terrorist act during their sting operation.
Bruce has ordered the police to disclose confidential legal advice that they received about running the undercover operation where officers posed as jihadi warriors.
Correspondence with a lawyer is normally protected under solicitor-client privilege but Bruce says the Mounties waived that right by willingly disclosing a portion of the information in court.
Bruce says whether the Mounties followed the legal advice is relevant to the case because it may show the officers acted in bad faith.
Nuttall and Korody were found guilty earlier this year on terror charges, but their lawyers argue RCMP entrapped the pair and that the bomb scheme would never have happened without help from the police.
The Canadian Press