The Supreme Court of Canada will say today whether it will hear RNC Constable Doug Snelgrove’s appeal of his conviction for sexual assault.
Today will either be the end of the road, or yet another extension of it for a crime that was committed almost a decade ago.
Snelgrove was on duty, in uniform, in his police car when he drove a drunk young woman home from downtown in 2014.
The married constable ended up in her apartment, and they had sex, with issues of consent and abuse of authority emerging at trial.
He was first acquitted, but that was overturned on appeal, leading to a second trial that ended with a judge’s mistake and no verdict.
Snelgrove was convicted after a third trial, but he appealed, arguing he was wrongly excluded from key meetings between the judge and lawyers.
That was dismissed by this province’s Court of Appeal, leaving Canada’s top court as his final option.
Granting the appeal could add another year to the process while a dismissal sends Snelgrove back to jail.
He has remained free on bail pending today’s decision, which will be released shortly after 11 a.m.