Affidavit #1 of Patrick Fox, re Disclosure Material - Appeal of 244069-7-B

I am the appellant and personall know about the matters referred to in this Affidavit, except where they are based on information and belief, in which case I believe them to be true.

I have been in custody since May 2016, excluding three brief periods totaling three and a half months (2.5 months in December 2018 - March 2019; 4 weeks in August - September 2020; 5 days in August 2021). All of that time has been spent at North Fraser Pretrial Centre (NFPC) and Fraser Regional Correctional Centre (FRCC), except for about five weeks which was spent in US DHS custody in the US.

At both NFPC and FRCC I have absolutely no access to searchable case law and no access to educational material on Canadian law from which to educate and inform myself in litigating an appeal. At FRCC I have no access to case law at all.

From the time of my arrest on 2020-09-17 through the start of the trial on 2020-11-26, I had made multiple requests to Crown Counsel Chris Johnson, both in written correspondence and on the record in open court, to be provided with the disclosure material and, in particular, with the audio/video recordings of my interview by Det. Dent. Crown did not respond to any of my correspondence.

At the bail hearing on 2020-09-17 Crown Counsel Chris Johnson made a number of false claims against me. efore proceeding with the bail hearing I wanted to obtain proof that Crown's claims were false and that he knew they were false, so I adjourned the bail hearing with the understanding that once I received such proof I would ask Crown to put it back on the calendar. In or around later October 2020 I obtained the evidence I required to prove Crown had lied at the previous bail hearing, so I wrote to Chris Johnson requesting he schedule a bail hearing. Johnson did not schedule a bail hearing and did not respond to my letter.

Attached as Exhibit A to this affidavit is a copy of the "Disclosure Letter", dated 2020-11-23, from Crown Counsel to myself, showing itemized lists of the material disclosed and the respective dates of disclosure.

On 2020-10-15 I recieved the "initial disclosure" consisting of the items described in Exhibit A. This consisted of 17 pages of materiall. Three pages of that contained the police narrative regarding my arrest and the current charges. The remaining 14 pages did not pertain to the current charges.

On 2020-11-23, in the late afternoon or evening, I received further disclosure, consisting of the items described in Exhibit A. This consisted of 107 pages and 2 hours and 29 minutes of audio/vidoe recordings.

All of the disclosure material which was provided and which was relevant to the Crown's case and to my defense, including the audio/vidoe recording of my interview by Det. Dent, was contained in the disclosure package provided to me on 2020-11-23.

A transcript of my interview by Det. Dent was not provided or made available to me until Decembe 2021, for the purpose of preparing this appeal.

The first time Crown made any mention to me or in my presense, of any witnesses they intended to call at trial was on the morning of the trial.

There were 53 people who's names appeared in RTCCv1. Of that, at least 10 were VPD staff associated with the investigation or explicitly stated as being "civilian witnesses". And 38 of those 53 were justice system participants.

Due to Crown refusing to notify me of any witnesses they intended to call I reasonably believed they did not intend to call any witnesses at trial.

Prior to trial, I knew there were no statements I had made to Det. Dent which, when taken in context, established that I had any involvement in the website during the period of probation. For that reason, I believed it was reasonable for Crown to not intend to call Det. Dent as a witness.

Prior to trial, I knew that Crown would not be able to have the recording of my interview with Dent entered unless Dent testified to it's authenticity and correctness. And since Crown refused to notify me of their intention to call Dent, I believe it was reasonable for me to presume Crown did not intend to rely on the interview with Dent.

Due to Crown's ongoing refusal to notify me of any witnesses they intended to call; their refusal to provide me any disclosure material other than the "initial disclosure packet"; their refusal to schedule a bail hearing for me; and their refusal to respond to any of my correspondence; I reasonably presumed Crown's intention was to withdraw or stay the charges prior to or at the start of the trial.

Due to my reasonable presumption that Crown was not going to rely on the interview with Dent, I did not focus my attention on the interview during the two days in which the disclosure material was in my possession.

Given my repeated requests for disclosure and attempts to communicate with Crown from the time of my arrest (2020-09-17) through the time of trial (2020-11-26), I believe I made reasonable, diligent, good faith efforts to pursue and obtain the disclosure material timely so that I could be ready for the trial as scheduled.

On 2020-11-27, the day after the trial, the facility staff at NFPC took possession of the disclosure material from me, for it to be returned to Crown Counsel. The officer informed me Crown had contacted the jail and asked them to obtain the disclosure hard drive from me immediately.

On or about 2020-11-27 I mailed a letter to Crown Counsel at 222 Main Street, not to Chris Johnson specifically, informing them I still required certain parts of the disclosure material in order to prepare for sentencing and I requested they return the disclosure to me. Crown Counsel did not respond.

Attached as Exhibit B to this affidavit is a copy of the letter, dated 2020-11-27, which I mailed to Crown Counsel requesting the return of the disclosure material to assist me in preparing for sentencing.

Attached as Exhibit C to this affidavit are the transcript excerpts of Det. Dent's testimony regarding my statements when he interviewed me, coupled with the transcript excerpts and locations in the audio/video recording of those statements in the interview.

Attached as Exhibit D to this affidavit are additional, pertinent transcript excerpts and the corresponding locations in the audio/vidoe recording of those excerpts, from Det. Dent's interview of my.

After being taken back from me on 2020-11-27, the disclosure material was not provided to me or made available to me again until December 2021 for the purpose of preparing this appeal.

On 2020-10-05 I left a message by telephone, for Chris Johnson, requesting to cancel the bail hearing until after I am arraigned and have obtained the evidence I was waiting on.

According to the information contained on page 4 of the Report to Crown Counsel, the report was prepared on 2020-09-17, andI have found no artefacts within the RTCC which were dated after 2020-09-17.

In late October or early November 2020 I left a voice message with Mr. Johnson'soffice informing him I have received the evidence I have been waiting for, and requesting he schedule my bail hearing, and a pretrial conference to address the outstanding disclosure issues. Mr. Johnson did not respond to or act on those requests.