Łutselk'e chief argues comments made during separate arrest shouldn't be allowed in impaired driving trial

A lawyer for Łutselk'e Dene First Nation's chief says a comment his client made when being arrested for assault shouldn't be used in a separate trial for impaired driving.

Darryl Marlowe has pleaded not guilty to a charge of impaired driving, and is scheduled to appear in court in May. The charge is related to a snowmobile accident on Jan. 3, 2021, which resulted in Marlowe being medevac'd to Yellowknife, where he spent about a week recovering.

Separate assault charges stemming from that same day, which have since been stayed, led to his arrest on Jan. 18, 2021. During that arrest, Marlowe allegedly talked about the snowmobile accident.

But Marlowe disputes the accuracy of what the police officer wrote down from that conversation. He also alleges the officer didn't read him his rights.

On Tuesday, N.W.T. Justice Jeannie Scott heard an application to exclude the comment in question from Marlowe's impaired driving trial. Scott is set to make a decision at the Yellowknife courthouse on April 8.

Appearing by video Tuesday, RCMP officer Harland Venema testified he arrested Marlowe on the assault charges. Venema was an officer in the community at the time but now works in British Columbia.

Venema said he responded to the alleged assault on Jan. 3, 2021, where a witness told him Marlowe had consumed as much as a mickey of alcohol. Marlowe was then discovered severely injured in a snowmobile accident, but Venema said it wasn't clear whether Marlowe was the driver or whether he was struck by the vehicle. 

Later, during the arrest on Jan. 18, 2021,, Marlowe made a comment about his Jan. 3 accident, which Venema wrote in a report. A paraphrased version of that comment is that Marlowe was glad he was the one involved in the accident and not his son, because carbide bars had been placed on the skis of the snowmobile, making it susceptible to flipping. 

Venema said he typed out the statement on his computer shortly after the arrest, when Marlowe left the station. He then added it to a police report. 

While being questioned on the witness stand, Marlowe repeated the comment. Following this, the Crown and defence debated whether he used the word "driving" when he repeated it.

This was not resolved and Justice Scott said she would review the court record before making her decision to determine if it was said. 

While on the witness stand, Marlowe alleged that during the arrest he was in a great deal of pain and was on a lot of medication including Tylenol 3s and Ibuprofen. 

"I was quite dizzy," he told the court.

Marlowe said he doesn't remember Venema reading him his rights.