Ex-reservist should be compensated for flawed probe: expert
A former Edmonton reservist found not guilty of sexual assault should receive compensation from the Canadian Armed Forces after an investigation by military police was found to have flaws during his trial, according to a military expert.
"Clearly, something went desperately wrong here," said Bob Bergen, an adjunct professor with the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.
"I've seen less egregious cases than this go to compensation and I think something has to be done to redress this."
In October, a jury found Orman Savage, 40, not guilty of sexually assaulting a female recruit. Savage was accused of sexually assaulting the woman, then 21, in a large bathroom stall at a military party in Edmonton at the end of July 2004. Her identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
It was Savage's second trial on the sexual assault charge. He was originally found guilty by a provincial court judge in 2007 and sentenced to three years in prison. But the Alberta Court of Appeal ordered a new trial last April.
During both trials, the court heard the complainant got drunk the night in question and was throwing up in the bathroom. Savage came to help her.
She alleged he sexually assaulted her. Savage testified the young recruit had come onto him.
The jury found him not guilty after deliberating for just over an hour.
The acquittal meant that Savage's legal nightmare, which began five and a half years earlier, was over. But he is left with questions about the military investigation that led to the charge being laid in the first place.
"They had made up their mind as to my guilt, I guess, already," Savage said. "And they didn't pursue or want to pursue any other information that was contrary to that."
Military probe questioned at trial
The original investigation was conducted by a military police officer who was starting a one-year internship with the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service in 2004.
According to an agreed statement of facts entered at the second trial, the investigation was plagued by mistakes. Evidence, including a T-shirt of the complainant's, was not seized or sent for DNA analysis.
The scene of the alleged attack wasn't sealed until mid-August or checked for forensic evidence. Witnesses were not interviewed in a timely fashion. The complainant was not kept apart and interviewed separately from her mother, another potential witness in the investigation.
The case was never referred to the RCMP or the Edmonton Police Service.
Well-known Edmonton criminal defence lawyer Brian Beresh represented Savage during the second trial.
"When I looked at the case closely, I just couldn't see how he had been convicted," Beresh said.
The military's National Investigation Service can deal with sexual assaults but it may also request help from a civilian police force. Beresh wondered why this did not happen in Savage's case.
"Had they gotten one investigator involved — one only — who would have overseen what's happening — quarterbacked the investigation — this would never have happened," he said.
The military refused to do a taped interview on the issue. A spokesperson said the Forces never comment on how investigations are conducted.
Ex-soldier hopes to rejoin military
Savage hopes to recoup his legal fees, which he estimates are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But he also believes the military's National Investigation Service needs to do a better job.
"I hope that in the future that they make it so they get more training, better training, different training," Savage said.
"If they're going to be put into a position where they are supposed to be the best of the best and doing internal affairs for the Canadian Armed Forces, they should have the training and the background behind them to be able to do their job properly."
The Crown has decided not to appeal the outcome of the trial.
Savage was a master corporal before he was kicked out of the military last year because of his conviction. He has applied to be reinstated.