I first heard about the lawsuit against Eddie Maurice a couple nights ago in my pub. Some folks coming back from a fundraiser had been speaking to Eddie and popped by to tell me about it. I was astounded and disgusted that this serial criminal who had gotten himself shot while trying to rob the Maurice family late one night had the gall to try and sue Eddie for damages. Apparently he feels that he lost income due to his injury. How many less places did he break into due to it?
For those not familiar with the Maurice family saga of last year, I covered it here.
Eddie was dragged before the courts six times over the course of months before the stubborn Crown Prosecutor finally dropped the charges. At every hearing hundreds of Albertans rallied outside of the Okotoks courthouse in support of the Maurice family. While the prosecutors will never admit it, they had to bow to public pressure. Convicting this man for protecting the baby who was alone in his house was simply not going to happen.
This put the family through incredible stress and strain while this action dragged on. They finally thought it was over. I remember how much more relaxed Eddie was when he came out of that courthouse for (what we thought was) the final time. They could get back on with their lives.
While repugnant, it wasn’t all that shocking I guess to think of a junkie trying to screw a few dollars out of somebody with a lawsuit. There are always scumbag lawyers encouraging such actions.
I was utterly floored however when Rick Bell with the Calgary Sun reported that the government of Alberta was planning to sue Eddie Maurice as well!
What the hell is wrong with those fools in Alberta Justice? Did they not think that the Maurice family had suffered enough?
Perhaps they still saw Eddie as the one that got away. “How dare he defend his baby and not do time!”
Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer rightly dropped this idiotic government lawsuit the moment he heard of it. Good on him.
Dropping the suit is not enough however.
I am going to guess that this lawsuit was the brainchild of a Notley appointee. Who else but a raving NDP hack would conceive of something so stupid as having the government sue a victim of crime?
The Kenney government has a lot of housecleaning to do since winning their majority mandate and clearly the justice department is in dear need of it.
Whether it was a Notley appointee or not, the fool who came up with this lawsuit should be fired post-haste along with any other idiots who supported them. Rural crime is a powder keg issue as it is and dragging rural victims of crime before the courts won’t help.
If you are worried about folks taking the “shoot, shovel, shut up” approach to home defense I can assure you that stopping government lawsuits against innocent homeowners is a good start towards reducing that.
Eddie still faces the lawsuit initiated by the moron who tried to rob him. I wonder if the criminal who is suing Eddie was inspired or encouraged to sue Eddie by the government and it’s lawsuit? Crackheads are not typically known for taking initiative on anything so I would not be too surprised here.
I am glad that Doug Schweitzer acted so quickly to quell this idiocy. I hope he moves just as quickly to flush out the dolts who initiated it.
Mr. Morgan, this is an incredibly frustrating and sad story. Do you know if they will be needing or doing any type of fundraising? If so I would like to get something organized out here in Medicine Hat. Thank you.
Following! I too wild like to contribute but want to make sure that a fundrazr.com that was started is legitimate
The two criminals experienced a “workplace hazard”–i guess there should be “safety courses” given by the government on “how to protect yourself as a criminal while criminalizing others”–hehehe
Anyhow, why doesnt the farmer COUNTER-SUE for trespassing, vandalism, property destruction, PTSD ( which could be more accurate here) and anything else that he could factually and legally do?
This would SHUT UP the FAILED CRIMINAL!!!!
Could someone get this info to the farmer?
Thanks!