Hopley’s lawyer worried about vigilante justice

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CRANBROOK (NEWS1130) – A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for Randall Hopley, the man accused of kidnapping three-year-old Kienan Hebert from his home in Sparwood last week.

Hopley made a brief appearance in Cranbrook today, arriving in handcuffs.  By the time he appeared before a provincial court judge, the handcuffs had been removed, and he was wearing leg shackles.

The 46-year-old sat quietly while being ordered to return to court on November 9th, following the psychiatric evaluation.  He is charged with kidnapping, abduction of a child under 14, and break and enter.

Hopley’s lawyer is concerned other prisoners might beat him up while he’s in custody in an attempt for vigilante justice.  And goes on to say that his client is “sad and sorry” about the situation.

“That’s not a matter for him to say, but it’s fairly obvious to anybody in the system that that’s an issue.  He was Canada’s most wanted man for about five days,” says William Thorne.

He says Hopley is exhausted and also slightly hurt after he was taken down by a police dog during his arrest yesterday in Alberta.

Kienan disappeared last week and was apparently held for several days before being returned to his empty home early Sunday morning, ending an Amber Alert in BC and Alberta.

It may be awhile before we learn evidence against Hopley

News1130‘s legal analyst Michael Shapray says it’s “very, very odd” police haven’t said why Hopley is suspected of kidnapping the three-year-old boy, but they may have a perfectly good reason.

“You would hope it’s more than just suspicion, because obviously just suspicion isn’t going to do it, but for instance if they had some sort of finger prints… in certain areas they might not want to reveal that because… he might confess to having opened a particular door or gone to a particular place, and there would be no need to reveal that,” he says.

“So it’s very hard to speculate about what they have and why they haven’t revealed any particular details.”

He says unless Hopley pleads guilty, it will likely be a year or two before the case goes to trial due to backlogs in the courts, and it won’t be until then that the public finally gets some answers about what police do know.

“I can’t say that there is no reason why they may hold back the information at this stage, and now that he’s being charged there will [likely be] a publication ban on any details at any bail hearing or any court proceedings to protect his right to a fair trial.”

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