Crown misses the mark as judge acquits OPP officer on gun charges
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2025 6:29 am
An Ontario Provincial Police officer facing firearms charges relating to two separate incidents at shooting range in 2009 and 2016 saw them dismissed by a judge in a Barrie courtroom Thursday.
A happy and relieved Roberto Manca left with family, friends and supporters as the group posed for a photo outside the courtroom.
The OPP senior firearms officer had been facing as many as five counts of careless use of a firearm. That had been whittled down to two by the time Ontario Court Justice Peter West cut him loose from his five-year legal ordeal.
“A case that was doomed from the start,” said West, citing the passage of time.
It was far from the only issue the judge had with the Crown’s case.
“The (Crown’s) evidence is filled with unanswered questions,” said West.
Court had heard evidence of two different shooting range sessions, one at CFB Borden in 2009 and another closer to the OPP’s Orillia headquarters seven years later.
Essentially, Manca was accused of discharging his firearm in a dangerous manner while standing behind officers, who were lying down prone in the “firing line” shooting at targets 100 metres away.
Court heard that both sessions had about two dozen officers shooting at targets and a handful of safety officers standing behind the firing line, Manca included.
The Crown called a firearms expert, but none of the safety officers, who were in a much better position to observe Manca than the witnesses lying in front of him.
Manca’s lawyer, Joseph Markson, speaking on background after the dismissal, said he intended to call at least one. He didn’t need to, as West dismissed the case before the defence offered any evidence in what is known as a directed verdict.
The Crown’s case also relied on witnesses who were lying prone. Details were vague, as West repeatedly pointed out in his ruling, but the Crown had attempted to prove that Manca’s firing from behind them constituted the charges.
“Nothing more than conjecture and improper speculation,” West said of the piecemeal fashion by which the Crown tried to establish the 2016 case.
West used similar language as much almost a dozen times in his ruling. Though the judge had kind words for the Crown’s professionalism and conduct in court, he had little use for its case.
On the Orillia-area incident, West provided a 17-point takedown. The CFB Borden incident was even “more lacking," said West.
Manca was charged when OPP higher-ups became aware in 2020 of the two range sessions and commenced an investigation. He has been suspended from duty since.
In his ruling, West also said he was puzzled by the lack of notes from the time of the alleged incidents, or even that verbal concerns were raised at the time of the alleged offences.
“Four and eight years later, then 11 and 16,” said West in reference to the time elapsed between the incidents, the investigation and, finally, the trial.
West was withering in his criticism of one witness, whom he did not name, saying there were “three or four” areas of significant concern.
Even if the judge didn’t mean it, there was a certain irony in one of his comments near the end of his ruling. West said it was not realistic for firing range witnesses to know what was going on behind them for one simple reason: their sole focus was in front of them.
Besides, no one “wants to miss the target,” said West.
It was a fitting denouement to a 75-minute judgment on how badly the Crown had missed theirs.
https://www.barrietoday.com/court/crown ... s-10507647
https://www.orilliamatters.com/court/cr ... s-10508246
https://www.midlandtoday.ca/court/crown ... s-10508694
A happy and relieved Roberto Manca left with family, friends and supporters as the group posed for a photo outside the courtroom.
The OPP senior firearms officer had been facing as many as five counts of careless use of a firearm. That had been whittled down to two by the time Ontario Court Justice Peter West cut him loose from his five-year legal ordeal.
“A case that was doomed from the start,” said West, citing the passage of time.
It was far from the only issue the judge had with the Crown’s case.
“The (Crown’s) evidence is filled with unanswered questions,” said West.
Court had heard evidence of two different shooting range sessions, one at CFB Borden in 2009 and another closer to the OPP’s Orillia headquarters seven years later.
Essentially, Manca was accused of discharging his firearm in a dangerous manner while standing behind officers, who were lying down prone in the “firing line” shooting at targets 100 metres away.
Court heard that both sessions had about two dozen officers shooting at targets and a handful of safety officers standing behind the firing line, Manca included.
The Crown called a firearms expert, but none of the safety officers, who were in a much better position to observe Manca than the witnesses lying in front of him.
Manca’s lawyer, Joseph Markson, speaking on background after the dismissal, said he intended to call at least one. He didn’t need to, as West dismissed the case before the defence offered any evidence in what is known as a directed verdict.
The Crown’s case also relied on witnesses who were lying prone. Details were vague, as West repeatedly pointed out in his ruling, but the Crown had attempted to prove that Manca’s firing from behind them constituted the charges.
“Nothing more than conjecture and improper speculation,” West said of the piecemeal fashion by which the Crown tried to establish the 2016 case.
West used similar language as much almost a dozen times in his ruling. Though the judge had kind words for the Crown’s professionalism and conduct in court, he had little use for its case.
On the Orillia-area incident, West provided a 17-point takedown. The CFB Borden incident was even “more lacking," said West.
Manca was charged when OPP higher-ups became aware in 2020 of the two range sessions and commenced an investigation. He has been suspended from duty since.
In his ruling, West also said he was puzzled by the lack of notes from the time of the alleged incidents, or even that verbal concerns were raised at the time of the alleged offences.
“Four and eight years later, then 11 and 16,” said West in reference to the time elapsed between the incidents, the investigation and, finally, the trial.
West was withering in his criticism of one witness, whom he did not name, saying there were “three or four” areas of significant concern.
Even if the judge didn’t mean it, there was a certain irony in one of his comments near the end of his ruling. West said it was not realistic for firing range witnesses to know what was going on behind them for one simple reason: their sole focus was in front of them.
Besides, no one “wants to miss the target,” said West.
It was a fitting denouement to a 75-minute judgment on how badly the Crown had missed theirs.
https://www.barrietoday.com/court/crown ... s-10507647
https://www.orilliamatters.com/court/cr ... s-10508246
https://www.midlandtoday.ca/court/crown ... s-10508694