Defense Lawyer
Appearances
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The charge of rape is another historical charge that no longer exists in the Canadian Criminal Code. And to give a sense of how different laws are today, in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and even into the early 1980s, a man could not be convicted for raping his wife. We have new sexual assault laws, but again, they don't apply to crimes allegedly committed in the 1970s.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
So the former teacher would now face one count of rape for just one alleged crime. The first incident on that band trip to Belleville in 1977... Anne-Marie knew what had happened to her, but she realized that might not be enough to convict. She wished she wasn't so alone.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
I look through her police files. There's no evidence detectives notified the media to alert other potential victims. I have reported on sexual abuse cases for years. There's rarely just one survivor. And in every other case I've covered, the police released a statement after charges were laid. They include a note such as, police are concerned there may be more victims.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
We are asking them to contact their local police service for more information. I call the Toronto Police Service asking if it published a news release in this case. The police confirm they did not. They don't say why.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
If more victims had been alerted and had come forward, would this case have been treated differently? The lack of a news release is just one more item in a long list of strikes against Anne-Marie's case. There were endless delays, changes in detectives, different Crown attorneys, and different venues. And then charges were dropped and added. Walker changed his plea.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
It's a sunny summer day, July 23, 2021. The preliminary hearing against Doug Walker gets underway. The judge will hear from both sides. Then he will decide if there's enough evidence for this case to go to trial. I had... been adamant that I really wanted to be in a court, but apparently that wasn't possible. Due to COVID, the hearing was virtual.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Anne-Marie sat in front of her laptop in her home office. Walker appeared from his home too. The judge was in a Toronto courtroom. The camera, I think, moved around depending who was talking. Where others might be terrified, Anne-Marie, a former top bureaucrat who appreciates process and order, actually felt some comfort. She had faith in the system.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
In Canada, you can't publicly broadcast what goes on inside a courtroom, so I ordered the transcripts of the proceedings. We're going to reenact part of what happened in the court now. The words you will hear are taken directly from those transcripts. I've asked a few CBC colleagues to provide the voices of the judge.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
And the Crown Attorney. Hi. Hi. Anne-Marie will read her own words. I will. She was the only witness to testify during this hearing.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Good morning, Your Honor. We'll start with Walker's lawyer.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The defense lawyer switches to a different line of questioning. Eventually, he goes back to what happened that night in Belleville, what Anne-Marie describes as rape, the whole basis of the charge.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Sorry, I don't know what, what does that mean? The Crown Attorney interjects. She represents the prosecution. Like, what does Mr. Frank mean?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Walker's lawyer asks Anne-Marie if there was any physical force that night. She says there was not.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Then Walker's lawyer asks her about her time with the Royal Regiment of Canada Band. As a teen, she played with that military group. Her former music teacher drove her to and from the practices.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The hearing continues with discussions about process, delays before ending for the day. The following week on July 29, 2021, they all meet up in this virtual courtroom again. It's the last day of the pretrial hearing. These are the words of the Crown Attorney.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
In the following pages of the transcript, the Crown presents case law to the court. She's challenging the assumptions around consent. The Crown describes Anne Marie's situation at the time.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The judge challenges the crown.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
It was a different time. Laws were different.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
I'm Julie Ireton. This is season two of The Band Played On. Anne-Marie Robinson is putting her faith in the criminal justice system, but it will be a difficult, lonely battle involving old sexist laws. We reenact what takes place in court.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Walker's defense lawyer explains, back in the 1970s, rape was an offense involving physical violence, the law at the time said by force, fear, or fraud.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The defense points out while she did have alcohol and felt drunk, she was in no way incapacitated.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Walker's defense lawyer makes his last submission. He says this case should not continue to trial.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Weeks went by. Anne-Marie waited to hear the outcome of the preliminary hearing, whether the case would go to full trial. But she was used to delays. By the summer of 2021, it had already been four and a half years since she first went to the police. They did treat me with respect and I felt listened to.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
There's not really any support for you. The kind of support Anne-Marie craved could have come from other survivors. She knows there's at least one other victim, the woman who went to the Ontario College of Teachers to report Walker. It's a case I've mentioned before. I've been trying to find that woman, but no luck yet. Then Anne-Marie gets a call from the Crown Attorney's office.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The judge has made a decision.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The judge has dismissed the charge against Doug Walker. After all these years, her case won't go to trial. Anne-Marie is devastated.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
And it feels like all the cross-examination she endured was for nothing.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
This one woman's journey through the criminal justice system has failed. She had expected different results. And I thought a trial would answer many of our questions. That isn't going to happen. But this story is far from over. This investigation is in our hands now, and we're just getting started. Next time on The Band Teacher. As one door closes, another is about to open wide.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Meeting her is the most important thing to me right now. And we dig into why the judge dismissed Anne Marie's case against Walker and what might have been done differently.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
But will the antiquated sex crime laws of the 1970s be able to deliver the justice she seeks? Sexual assault convictions are tough to win at any time. And a historical case involving just one victim is even tougher to prosecute. Episode 3, Seeking Justice There's a large police file in front of Anne-Marie. She ordered it shortly after we got back from our trip to Toronto.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The band Teacher is investigated, reported, written, and hosted by me, Julie Ireton. Allison Cook is the story and script editor, producer, sound designer, and mixer. Felice Chin is our executive producer and story editor. Ev Saint-Laurent is our legal advisor. Thank you to Malcolm Campbell, Trevor Pritchard, and Natalia Goodwin for lending their voices to the courtroom scene in this episode.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Jennifer Chen, Amanda Pfeffer and Jen White provided valuable production advice. Special thanks to the folks at CBC Podcasts for their support and the managing editor of CBC Ottawa is Drake Fenton. If you want to binge the whole series, subscribe to CBC True Crime Premium on Apple Podcasts. Just click on the link in the show description or binge listen for free by logging in to CBC Listen.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
If you like this podcast, I have another original investigation that might interest you. That's The Band Played On, Season 1. All episodes are available right now, wherever you get your podcasts. If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, community resources can help. Reach out to a trusted person, sexual assault center, or rape crisis center in your area.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
She initially went to the police a few years before she first contacted me. So she's catching me up. The police file includes that videotaped police interview. There's also a pile of documents chronicling her interaction with detectives over the years. The first page is on Toronto Police Service letterhead. The file starts with her first call to police on her birthday in February 2017.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
It was a birthday gift to myself. First of all, so I would remember the day the case moved very slowly. So in hindsight, that was a smart move. It was easy to recall when her interaction with the police started. They did see what had happened to me as something that was terribly problematic. Despite that, it took three months before a detective was assigned.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
It took about a year for the police to start consulting with a Crown lawyer, the Canadian equivalent of a district attorney.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Back in that tiny interview room at the Toronto Police Station, it's more than two years into the process. Anne-Marie traveled there from Ottawa to get an update, to meet the detective in person. She wanted to know if they were seriously pursuing her case.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
They call this the soft interview room. The detective is wearing street clothes, no uniform. He's probably about Anne-Marie's age at the time, late 50s.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
At this point, spring 2019, charges were still pending against Doug Walker, but there was no arrest warrant. It had been a year since the police had politely asked him to come to the station. But so far, he was a no-show. Anne-Marie was growing impatient.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
These police documents mention Walker's delays. He told police he was ill and had personal problems. There are notes the detective was giving him quote the benefit of the doubt. The official report also says Anne-Marie asked police why Walker could not turn himself in. Yet she found photos of him golfing posted to social media.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The detective in the video, reading glasses perched on his bald head, doesn't discuss the delays, but he asks her to repeat her story again.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
That camera is perched high in the corner of a small square room. It's inside a Toronto police station.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
In June 2019, more than a year after police initially asked Walker to come in and more than two years since Anne Marie first reported him to police, the former teacher finally walked into a police station in Toronto. Anne Marie turns to that page in the file. June the 3rd.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Anne-Marie's hair is pulled back. Bangs characteristically fall onto her face. She sits across the table from the detective. She's dressed smartly in wool dress pants and a little jacket.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
So two charges. Count one, sex with a girl aged 14 to 16. And count two, seduction. These are really old laws. They were actually repealed decades ago. But they were on the books in the 1970s. And that's when the alleged crimes took place. Looking back over the files, the police clearly were unsure about what charges applied here. Today, they wouldn't have that problem.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
New sexual assault laws are in force. But police had to work with the laws as they were in the 1970s. The former music teacher didn't have a lawyer. He would represent himself in court. About five months after the charges were laid in the fall of 2019, court documents show Doug Walker was prepared to plead guilty to one charge.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Normally, a case with a guilty plea goes straight to sentencing. But that's not what happened here. The Crown attorneys who worked on this file are not allowed to talk to me. What I've gleaned through reading the court files and transcripts is there was a plan to move the case from Toronto to Ottawa. But Anne-Marie was in the dark.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
While she waited for the criminal case to proceed, she filed a civil lawsuit. It was against her former teacher and the Toronto District School Board, his former employer.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
He told police and lawyers it was a consensual relationship, the result of a mutual attraction. He has also told me the same thing in an email. It's an assertion that still makes Anne-Marie bristle, but she doesn't think he was the only one at fault. I was as angry at the school as I was at him. Her lawsuit cited damages in the multiple millions of dollars.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
A psychologist spent hours with Anne-Marie and wrote a 41-page report for her lawyers. Now, there's nothing in that document she hasn't already shared with me. Her story has always been consistent. One section of the report I think is worth mentioning. The psychologist wrote, "...the sexual encounters with her teacher happened at the important psychological development stage of adolescence."
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
early adolescence is a particularly vulnerable time in the development of a girl and made some of the things she loved and were associated with her sense of self, such as music and academics, averse to her because of the association to trauma. After I left school because of Walker, I just kind of left the horn behind.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The psychologist noted long-term injuries also included in the civil lawsuit, depression, debilitating panic attacks and anxiety disorder, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts. Her statement of claim alleged the sexual abuse involved an exploitation of power and authority perpetrated by a grown man over a youth.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
And it claimed the school board Walker's former employer had been negligent and was therefore liable.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
The Toronto District School Board filed a statement of defense. It denied Walker abused Anne Marie in any way, and it said the board was not vicariously liable for Walker's alleged conduct or abuse. The board also filed a cross claim against Walker for all amounts paid or found owing by the board to Anne Marie. But for his part, Walker didn't even acknowledge Anne Marie's civil case.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
He did not file a defense. He was found in default. In other words, he decided not to fight the allegations. Anne-Marie's civil court battle would be against the school board only. Actually, it was between her and the school board's insurance firm. They soon came to a resolution. But I'm not allowed to say what the terms of the settlement are.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
I can only assume the settlement involved money, but she can't confirm. The civil case was started and finished before the criminal proceedings got any traction. At this point, she wasn't getting the answers she wanted. I ordered court files to better understand her case. Then there were new developments. Walker had hired a lawyer. Suddenly he changed his plea to not guilty.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
There's a small desk in the corner with a computer, a phone, and a roll of toilet paper, presumably in case she tears up. But I know she won't. She's in robot mode, unemotional, detached. I think she has to be to get through this.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
Now, I wasn't purview to any of those discussions. Then in November 2020, there was yet another surprise call from the courthouse.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Finding Mom's Killer | 4. The Trial of the Century
Has your father ever struck you with his fist?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Finding Mom's Killer | 4. The Trial of the Century
But then the attorney pushes his luck. Has he ever slapped you with his hand?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Finding Mom's Killer | 4. The Trial of the Century
And when did that occur?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Finding Mom's Killer | 4. The Trial of the Century
All right, now I guess my question is, other than that incident, were you ever slapped by your partner?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Finding Mom's Killer | 4. The Trial of the Century
Did she leave the house then? Yes, she did. Was she dressed at that time?