Carole Berner trial: Defence claims Delta Police wilfully destroyed evidence

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SURREY (NEWS1130) – Defence lawyers for the woman accused of killing four-year-old Alexa Middelaer while driving drunk, claim Delta Police wilfully destroyed a key piece of evidence.  And they hope that will be enough to have the case against Carole Berner stayed.

We’ll likely get a judge’s decision Wednesday.  Berner’s lawyers accuse Delta police of acting intentionally or with “gross negligence” in signing over her car to ICBC during their investigation.  The car was eventually destroyed.

The lawyers claim the car is the backbone of their defence, but Alexa Middelaer’s mother Laurel disagrees.  “There’s another issue–and that’s the impairment.  The reason you lose control of a vehicle is if your judgment is impaired.  And I think they’re really deviating away from the key issue.”

The defence also says a Delta Police officer’s inability to testify at trial jeopardizes their case.

Meanwhile, the Crown argues Berner and her lawyers had plenty of time to have her car examined and to obtain legal counsel, which she failed to do.  The Crown also says the accusations against Delta Police are meaningless.

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