A Surrey man who police were concerned was plotting to murder his ex-wife’s boyfriend has lost a bid to overturn his conviction for possessing a loaded prohibited firearm .
Glenn Harley Tetsuji Sheck was arrested in November 2010 outside a restaurant in Newton. RCMP had him under surveillance at the time to determine if information they had about him planning to kill his ex’s boyfriend was true. The boyfriend had been shot six times outside his home in June 2010 and survived.
On Nov. 4, 2010, police entered Earl’s Restaurant for a “licensed premise check walkthrough,” speaking to patrons. Sheck was sitting in a booth alone and officers noticed he looked panicked when they walked in. They also saw him put something under his right butt cheek, which turned out was his man purse. He also took his driver’s licence out of the bag and had it at the ready when officers asked.
As police checked Sheck’s ID, he didn’t speak, and continued to eat his chicken wings, his hands shaking.
Police asked him to go outside, where they searched his satchel and found a 9-mm semi-automatic Glock handgun. They placed him under arrest.
A judge found Sheck guilty in May 2012.
His appeal, which was heard in the Court of Appeal for B.C. in Vancouver in September, focussed on the legality of his detention and search by police.
He argued the police investigation was a sham, sparked by a pretend ID check at the restaurant and that his Charter rights were violated and his gun shouldn’t have been admitted as evidence.
But three appeal court judges sided with the trial judge, who found police had a “subjective belief” not just a suspicion, that Sheck had a firearm with him and the public and police were at risk.
“The ‘ruse’ simply allowed the police to escort Mr. Sheck safely out of the Earl’s Restaurant; it was not the basis for the detention,” wrote Chief Justice Robert Bauman in the Nov. 20 decision. “Rather… the totality of the circumstances founded a legitimate investigative detention.”
Justices Edward Chiasson and Sunni Stromberg-Stein were in agreement.
Sheck received an 18-month sentence in August 2014.
