Criminal Harassment in Alberta: Charges Withdrawn

Our team recently represented a young professional woman charged with criminal harassment offences. The police alleged our client created fake email accounts and used an application on her phone to create fake phone numbers all the while texting and communicating with her boyfriend’s ex-wife.

Criminal harassment is a serious offence which prohibits a person from contacting or conducting themselves in a way that harasses or recklessly harasses another person. Section 264 of the Criminal Code outlines four types of conduct which is prohibited. These include:

1. repeatedly following from place to place the other person or anyone known to them;
2. repeatedly communicating with, either directly or indirectly, the other person or anyone known to them;
3. besetting or watching the dwelling-house, or place where the other person, or anyone known to them, resides, works, carries on business or happens to be; or

(d) engaging in threatening conduct directed at the other person or any member of their family.

Criminal Harassment: Criminal Charges Withdrawn?

One of the most common types of harassment arises out of repeated communication. Another offence with similar conduct is section 372 of the Code which is repeated telecommunications. This section of the Criminal Code prohibits a person from repeatedly communicating with someone via telecommunications. This is interesting because our courts have determined that this offence cannot be conducted in a reckless manner, meaning the prosecution must prove full mens rea. A bail hearing is crucial in such cases to determine whether the accused can be released and under what conditions.

In this case, the prosecutor produced several documents purporting to be text messages and screenshots of repeated telephone calls from these fake phone numbers, leading to a criminal harassment charge. Our client maintained her innocence. Several negotiation meetings were held between the prosecutor and defence. Negotiating with the prosecutor can be tricky. It is normal for a defence lawyer not to want to show their cards but in order to be convincing details need to be provided. Further, pre-trial negotiations are critical if your client wants the stress, anxiety and legal risk to be reduced. The crown attorney plays a significant role in negotiating the withdrawal of charges, which can end the criminal process without a trial. In this case, our client wanted this even though she maintained her innocence. Eventually, the charge was withdrawn.

Securing favorable release conditions before the court date is essential. The court considers various factors when determining these conditions, and a criminal lawyer can negotiate to have them reviewed or changed to be more manageable and less intrusive. If the charges were not withdrawn, it could have had a significant impact on our client's criminal record.

Ultimately, the charges were withdrawn due to a lack of evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.