Ken Klonsky

Outing the Law: a Website on Injustice

New Mr. Big ruling in Nova Scotia case

What is important here is that the Canada Supreme Court Ruling is having the effect of affirming the right of suspects not to incriminate themselves. At least that if they unwittingly do so then further evidence is necessary to convict them.

Mr. Big ruling prompts withdrawal of murder charge in Rhonda Wilson case

Albert Baird was accused of killing his former partner

CBC News Posted: Sep 24, 2014 10:36 AM AT Last Updated: Sep 24, 2014 5:18 PM AT

Rhonda Wilson was 31 years old when she left her Kentville, N.S., home to go for a walk in August 2002. She was living with Albert Baird and her three children at the time. Baird was charged with murder in May but the charge has been dropped, following the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling about Mr. Big stings. (CBC)Rhonda Wilson was 31 years old when she left her Kentville, N.S., home to go for a walk in August 2002. She was living with Albert Baird and her three children at the time. Baird was charged with murder in May but the charge has been dropped, following the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling about Mr. Big stings. (CBC)
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The first-degree murder charge against a Nova Scotia man accused of killing his former partner has been withdrawn after Canada’s top court severely limited the kind of Mr. Big sting that had been used in his case.

The Crown said there’s no reasonable prospect of a conviction against Albert Rex Baird, in light of the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling on such stings.

However, Crown prosecutor Bob Morrison said the investigation is still active.

“I would say Mr. Baird is still a suspect and I don’t think the investigation is ending just because of this today,” he said.

Rhonda Wilson, a mother of three, disappeared in May 2002. Her body has not been found.

Baird, 45, was charged with first-degree murder in May.

Mr. Big operations involve police posing as criminals in an attempt to obtain a confession from a suspect. Until 2008, the tactic had been used at least 350 times to try to solve cold murder cases, the court heard.

The RCMP have said 95 per cent of the resulting prosecutions had ended in convictions.

The Supreme Court ruled the Mr. Big technique can induce unreliable confessions.

The ruling places strict limits on how police can use the technique, and a greater burden on the Crown before information obtained in a Mr. Big operation can be used in a trial.

Marc Patry of St. Mary’s University in Halifax is an expert on the Mr. Big technique.  He says the Baird case isn’t the only one affected by the Supreme Court ruling and predicted fewer uses of the technique in the future.

“They’ll be much more cautious, I think, because the bar is higher, I think, in order to get that testimony in,” he said. “So, I believe it will be used somewhat more sparingly and perhaps they’ll be more careful about when they employ it.”

Police would not confirm the exact relationship between Wilson and Baird, but friends of Baird said he was Wilson’s common-law husband.

11-year mystery

Wilson was 31 years old when she left her Kentville home to go for a walk in August 2002. She was living with Baird and her three children at the time, but was never heard from again.

Police said search crews focused on Bains Road, about one kilometre from an old pig farm in the Annapolis Valley, the focus of weeks of searching last spring.

Wilson’s case was added to the major unsolved crimes list in April 2010. Police said they received many tips after that announcement, but they did not contribute to Baird’s arrest.

The province said there has been no activity on Wilson’s bank accounts since she disappeared.

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