Judge acquits man accused of threatening to kill Justin Trudeau's wife, female MPs
Joe Lofaro
First posted: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 02:10 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 10:56 PM EDT
A man from southwestern Ontario has been acquitted on charges of uttering death threats against Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and 10 female members of Parliament while he was on a Via train earlier this year.
James Martin Platts, 58, of Chatham-Kent, was arrested in Cobourg on Jan. 5 after another passenger on the Ottawa to Toronto train notified Via staff when she noticed him pacing around and allegedly heard him utter the words “kill the 10 female MPs” followed by “… and the PM’s wife” during a conversation on his cellphone.
The witness also reported overhearing talk of anthrax and bombs.
Cobourg police arrested Platts at the terminal and later charged him with two counts of uttering threats to cause death.
Police also seized a cellphone, laptop computer, six paper notebooks, and hundreds of scraps of papers filled with writing.
Witness Mary Sutherland, identified by the Northumberland News as an Ottawa English teacher, testified she was so alarmed by what she was overhearing from the man seated in front of her that she started to jot down what he was saying on a sheet of paper she had been using as a bookmark.
Platts pleaded not guilty to both counts at his Aug. 16 trial in Cobourg.
He was acquitted the following day, but not before spending more than seven months in jail until his trial.
The judge in the case noted that Platts’ words alone, without context, were not enough to convict him.
Ontario Court Justice Stuart W. Konyer said in his written decision that although any other person would have reacted the same way as Sutherland, there was no criminal intent, noting the witness was uncertain “as to whether the words she heard Mr. Platts utter were actual threats or the ramblings of a mentally unstable individual.”
“A reasonable inference available on the evidence is that Mr. Platts was earnestly involved in a conversation about how to stop threats that he believed existed towards public officials, and that he did not subjectively intend to intimidate or convey a threat to anyone by discussing these matters on the phone.”
James Martin Platts, 58, from Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario, was acquitted on charges of uttering death threats. PETE FISHER / NORTHUMBERLAND TODAY
Judge acquits man accused of threatening to kill Justin Trudeau's wife, female M
Joe Lofaro
First posted: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 02:10 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 10:56 PM EDT
A man from southwestern Ontario has been acquitted on charges of uttering death threats against Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and 10 female members of Parliament while he was on a Via train earlier this year.
James Martin Platts, 58, of Chatham-Kent, was arrested in Cobourg on Jan. 5 after another passenger on the Ottawa to Toronto train notified Via staff when she noticed him pacing around and allegedly heard him utter the words “kill the 10 female MPs” followed by “… and the PM’s wife” during a conversation on his cellphone.
The witness also reported overhearing talk of anthrax and bombs.
Cobourg police arrested Platts at the terminal and later charged him with two counts of uttering threats to cause death.
Police also seized a cellphone, laptop computer, six paper notebooks, and hundreds of scraps of papers filled with writing.
Witness Mary Sutherland, identified by the Northumberland News as an Ottawa English teacher, testified she was so alarmed by what she was overhearing from the man seated in front of her that she started to jot down what he was saying on a sheet of paper she had been using as a bookmark.
Platts pleaded not guilty to both counts at his Aug. 16 trial in Cobourg.
He was acquitted the following day, but not before spending more than seven months in jail until his trial.
The judge in the case noted that Platts’ words alone, without context, were not enough to convict him.
Ontario Court Justice Stuart W. Konyer said in his written decision that although any other person would have reacted the same way as Sutherland, there was no criminal intent, noting the witness was uncertain “as to whether the words she heard Mr. Platts utter were actual threats or the ramblings of a mentally unstable individual.”
“A reasonable inference available on the evidence is that Mr. Platts was earnestly involved in a conversation about how to stop threats that he believed existed towards public officials, and that he did not subjectively intend to intimidate or convey a threat to anyone by discussing these matters on the phone.”
James Martin Platts, 58, from Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario, was acquitted on charges of uttering death threats. PETE FISHER / NORTHUMBERLAND TODAY
Judge acquits man accused of threatening to kill Justin Trudeau's wife, female M
