Guilty or innocent? Parole Board doesn’t care
Have we been had?
Neo links to this morning’s Globe article, Parole Board won’t consider Martin’s guilt :
…According to the 110-page verdict, the judge found Ms. Martin guilty of depositing and transferring illicit funds. Between March and August of 2001, she received nearly $60,000 in Canadian funds in her Mexican bank account, and about $3,000 of it was transferred from the Latvian bank account of one of Mr. Waage’s shell companies. Most of the money – $38,700 – was transferred by Ms. Martin from another account in her name.
Ms. Martin also received a $15,000 transfer from Keith Nordick, a Saskatchewan man living in Puerto Vallarta who was Mr. Waage’s right-hand man in the scheme.Mr. Nordick pleaded guilty in a California court to fraud and money laundering in 2005.
Ms. Martin also transferred $16,000 from her bank account to Mr. Waage’s sister, Lynn Johnston. Ms. Johnston is wanted on fraud charges, but has never been apprehended…
But apparently all the Parole Board needs to concern itself with is whether or not Brenda Martin could post a threat to others.
* * * *
Update - And under the heading, Can’t win for losing , we have these editorials:
Maybe Ottawa only likes some of us - Thomas Walkom (Star)
What about the other 1,750 jailed Canadians? - Record
Travellers must be wise to the laws - Lorrie Goldstein (Sun) (A somewhat more balanced approach)
It gets worse! - Brenda Martin’s supporters urge Ottawa to grant speedy release (Record):
Brenda Martin will likely remain behind the razor-wired perimeter of Grand Valley Institution for Women for a few more days.
However, supporters of the 51-year-old Trenton native, who spent the past two years in a Mexican prison, are urging the federal government to move quickly toward granting her freedom.
"I don’t see why they have to keep her in for one more minute," lawyer Edward Greenspan said in a phone interview yesterday. "We’re waiting for them to do the right thing …
Hey! Whose paying his salary, BTW??
And now get this:
…Macklin said he believed it was clear Martin will remain in custody for a few days.
"It’ll likely take some time before she ultimately is able to be what you’d call fully recovered," he said, adding that it’s good she will receive the medical treatment she needs while she is in prison.
Once Martin is released, she would have to wait 90 days before being eligible for free health care in Canada …
Get that? Free health care in prison! None if she’s out.
So, why is Greenspan talking about doing "the right thing"?
Sunday Update : Angelo Persichilli - Who are we to call Mexico ‘corrupt’?
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 am
What a complete joke!!
Does it matter at all if Ms. Martin is guilty of what the Mexican courts charged her with?
And with the Liberal’s help was this all a Get Out of Jail Free Card?
Before Ms. Martin is freed can we expect her to pay backtaxes? Pay for her own medical treatment?
This woman made a choice to live outside of Canada.
She also made choice with regard to what she did with her money and who she did it with.
What a moronic system we support!
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 am
p.s. - has this woman or her family thanked the Canadian government yet?
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
I have not heard a Thankyou to the Canadian government yet. Her mother thanked the media and Canadian people.
Really it is up to Brenda Martin to Thank the Canadian government, we will all be watching to see if she has the manners to do the right thing.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
I’m not going to be holding my breath, but can we count on the Liberals to talk Ms. Martin into holding a press conference next week and lay it on thick?
Seriously, what if she’s guilty as charged?
What message does the send all lay abiding citizens, and how week does it make Canada look in the eyes of the Mexican courts?
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
“Have we been had?”
You bet. From the very beginning of this soap opera, my impression or gut feeling was that:
1. Ms. Martin and her immediate entourage are con artists.
2. This was a good issue for the Liberals to advance their “Conservatives are mean-spirited” mantra.
Unfortunately, the Conservatives gave in to public opinion, manipulated to fever pitch by the media, and we are where we are at this point.
Before, the government was being accused of not doing enough, of being heartless, incompetent, etc.
Now, questions are being raised whether the government went too far in whisking Ms. Martin out of Mexico in a private jet, etc.
It’s the same old story of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
May 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
The parole board is dealing with someone who has been found guilty. They must assume that verdict is correct. They cannot consider the fact that her conviction came in a country with a different legal system - one that assumes guilty and places the onus on the accused to establish innocence.
This means the position of the parole board goes against Brenda Martin. If she attends the hearing and denies guilt they could do what they did to Latimer and take that as a sign of lack of remorse and therefore conclude she still poses a danger to the community, denying her parole.
I doubt they will deny it, but they can.
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Obviously there is a list of the other 1,750 people incarcerated in other countries - the entire list should be forwarded to CTV and Lisa LaFlamme for their immediate action. Should keep her busy for a while……………
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Is anyone reporting on the 2 cdns injured in that crash in Egypt. The father has been on cbc a couple of times and has nothing but PRAISE for the help from the cdn consul in Egypt, and various other help being given by our government. A couple of calls and the Minister assured them beds would be available in BC so they could be retuned asap.
I am getting more and more suspicious about the whold BM mess. I wonder if she was promised big bucks to make such a spectacle of herself, as all others smears by liberals had failed to work. This one backfired on them also. One con conning another.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
What never gets mentioned is the victims of these fraudsters - people who may have had their whole life savings wiped out and theirs lives destroyed. Where is the justice for them?
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Watch for a multi million dollar figure for Brenda to write a book, have a movie deal, and in the next little while deny media interviews unless she is paid for an “exclusive”.
Oh, and Brenda’s lifetime friend Deb T. who she had not seen for 32 years - she is being courted as a Liberal MP candidate. And the “former Liberal MP” who took up this “cause” with the Brenda Martin fund and lots and lots of media exposrue - why, he IS running again under Dion.
Yup - Brenda Martin is a con artist. Then, she became a Liberal pawn and the Canadian people have paid the price - how very Canadian eh?
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Bruce, those people did not have their money in income trusts so their loss doesn’t matter,
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
What’s the connection between Ms. Martin and Paul Martin?
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
What a moronic system we support!
Check the latest update!
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Now they are asking about the 1,750 other Canadians? NOW they ask? I’ve wanted to know that for ages. The media wanted to prove they could influence something and now they have. That may turn out to be a bad thing.
Actually I think the Canadian government was already doing a great deal for BM (and I assume the same deal for everyone else) and Brenda Martin had caused the delays herself. I think what changed was the speed after her conviction and the high level representation in her case. This is not new, remember the Sudbury women accused of murdering the Ianarios? (sp?) Prime Minister Harper spoke to the Mexican President (Fox at the time) about that too. I hope Martin pays us back. What I really learned from this is that the Canadian government really can’t do all that much for us abroad even though they want to. At the end of the day she is back home not because the Canadian government worked so hard (although they did) but because Mexico wanted her to get the heck out. The publicity worked on Mexico and made them more cooperative, hopefully they will not be less cooperative in future cases out of spite. The truth is Mexico’s legal/police system is corrupt and broken, but even a broken watch is right twice a day. This time I think they were right.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Nice to see Greenspan jump on the Martin bandwagon to get some free publicity for himself.
Does anyone wonder why lawyers and politicians are looked down on by the public?
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Greenspan told the Canadian press BM should be FAST-TRACKED. Spokeswoman Nadine Archambault-Chapleau said Martin qualifies for an ACCELERATED parole review, because she is a first-time federal offender, serving a sentence for a non-violent crime.
Meanwhile Marjorie Bletcher had visited her daughter Friday night. She said BM was tired and having a hard time adjusting to the colder Canadian weather. BUT she was rediscovering peanut butter and was happy to indulge in REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I guess the Judge wasn’t stupid enough to swallow the BS story that the 26 thousand dollars that Brenda received from Waage was severance pay after only 9 months work before she was fired but was only part of money laundering that Waage was engaged in with the help of Martin.
What story has Brenda Martin have to tell about these other monies that were transferred in and out of her account from Waage and his cohorts?
May 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 pm
First the media hyped the story, complete with video of the sobbing Ms. Martin, pleading to the PM and threatening to kill herself if he didn’t spring her soon.
After she’s flown back to Canada on a private jet, I saw Craig Oliver clucking on MDL on Friday that this set a tricky precedent for the government, since it obviously doesn’t have the resources to give celebrity treatment to over a thousand incarcerated Canadian in foreign countries.
Gotcha!
May 4th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Not to mention, she had her “peanut butter cups” by her bed-side! Her mom just had to share with the cameras that “she woke up three times in the night, and ate a cup each time from the three pack”…Hmmmm! BM sure got a way of working it in this prison places eh? How is it she gets such privileges, and always seems to come away with extras and special leniencies?
Prison’s sounding like quite the “advantage” for her these days…
And when does she pay back the “loan” for her Mexican “get-out-of-jail” fine?
That’s $3,500 from the Victims Abroad Fund is is not? If she can afford Greenspan, surely she can afford to return the funds to the pot for the *real* victims!
Everything else from private $40,000 jet rides, to her incarceration, to her health care, and then to, no doubt, her future income, has been on US.
When does it end?
May 4th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Not sure if you or your readers have come across this site Joanne.
http://askthescold.blogspot.com/
*Not recommended reading if you have fluids in your mouth and are close to a keyboard!
May 4th, 2008 at 1:01 am
What people are missing is this: Martin is obviously a liberal sycophant and it pays nicely indeed. Our media are liberals too and look at the irresponsible behaviour that comes from them too.
May 4th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Well she’s certainly adept at playing the system.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Does anyone know what happened with the SAVE THE BRENDA MARTIN FUND money, that the Liberals were collecting?
If Brenda woke up three times , during the night ,and ate peanut butter cups, could be why she can’t sleep. Chocolate keeps you awake.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I think I have WAY more information about Brenda Martin than I care to know.
May 4th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Angelo Persichilli’s column is a voice of reason in all this melodrama. Some radio talk show hosts and “reporters” would benefit greatly by reading it.