A cocaine-smuggling trucker on the lam since 2009 appeared in a Windsor courtroom Thursday to begin serving a 16-year prison sentence.

Sandeep Hans, 37, who absconded to India during his drug trial, didn’t say why he’d had a change of heart and decided to turn himself in. But he made sure the court was aware of medical conditions he wants treated while in prison – asthma and “heart problems.”

Hans and accomplice Lacchman Singh Chahal were caught at the Ambassador Bridge on Feb. 19, 2007 with 147 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a tractor trailer full of California produce. The Brampton pair went to trial and were convicted of importing a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. Hans had already fled by the time the trial was done. He was convicted and sentenced in absentia.

Hans’ new lawyer, Lakhwinder Sandhu of Brampton, did not attend Thursday’s court appearance. But in a telephone interview afterward, Sandhu said Hans did not return to Canada to avail himself of free medical care in prison.

“I don’t think that’s the reason,” Sandhu said. “This is his own choice.”

Sandhu said Hans told him he fled during the trial because his brother had died in a car crash in India. Hans was distraught, Sandhu said. “He at that time, he was young.”

After Thursday’s appearance in Superior Court, Hans was taken across the street to Ontario court where he was arraigned on charges related to fleeing – failing to attend court and breaching his bail conditions. Sandhu said Hans intends to plead guilty and will likely be handed a sentence to be served consecutively to his 16-year prison term for the drug offences.

Richard Pollock, federal drug prosecutor, said Hans arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto Wednesday where RCMP officers were waiting to take him into custody. Sandhu said Hans had wanted to turn himself in earlier but had “exit problems.”

Hans was born in India but has Canadian citizenship.

Hans entered the courtroom Thursday with his fingertips pressed together as in prayer and repeatedly bowed his head at the judge as he walked to the prisoner’s box. Court heard he had spent the night in cells at Windsor police headquarters but will be housed at the South West Detention Centre, the new regional jail.

Hans will make another court appearance in March.

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An admitted thief begged a judge Friday to sentence her to a penitentiary term to get away from the mistreatment she is suffering at Windsor’s new jail.

“I can’t do this no more,” Keimonty Grayer said through tears. “I can’t take the South West Detention Centre. They abuse me.”

Grayer, 28, pleaded guilty this week to 16 crimes, including the attempted robbery of a woman at bank machine with an imitation handgun. Grayer also pleaded guilty to assaulting a jail guard by spitting.

“She feels she is being retaliated against,” Christina Sweet, Grayer’s lawyer told the court.

Grayer began yelling and swearing in court when Ontario court Justice Sharman Bondy suggested Grayer’s sentencing hearing be adjourned so the Crown can reconsider its position. The hearing, originally scheduled for one day, has been adjourned three times.

Grayer said she will agree to serve the six years the Crown originally suggested before discovering one of Grayer’s crimes did not carry a mandatory minimum sentence of four years.

Assistant Crown attorney Tim Kavanagh said he’d like an opportunity to reconsider his position on sentencing.

“No. No. I don’t care,” Grayer said. “My life is in my own hands. I am willing to take the six years.”

She then told Bondy, “Why can’t you just judge and do what you need to do?”

Bondy tried to reason with Grayer. “Take it easy,” she told the agitated woman.

Grayer’s mother repeatedly tried to shush her daughter, to no avail.

Grayer then demanded to be taken from the courtroom and back into a jail cell.

Bondy told the court she has no control over where Grayer is housed while in custody or how she is treated by guards at the South West Detention Centre.

“I have to hope officials do the right thing by her.”

Grayer pleaded guilty to committing 15 crimes between May and September of last year. She broke into houses while residents were sleeping, she broke into a car and cashed cheques she found inside and she went shopping with stolen credit cards. She was caught on video breaking into a hotel and trying to steal a projector, and later, holding an imitation handgun to the head of a woman at a bank machine.

Court has heard Grayer suffers from mental illness and committed crimes to finance her drug addiction.

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A Kitchener trucker arrested at the Ambassador Bridge in 2011 for having 39 kilograms of cocaine in a shipment of California raspberries has been found not guilty on drug charges.

Drago Knezevic, 54, was acquitted Friday by Superior Court Justice Thomas Carey. Carey presided over Knezevic’s trial held over four sporadic weeks last year. Knezevic stood trial on charges of importing cocaine and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Knezevic testified at trial that he had no idea he was transporting two bags of cocaine. His truck had been loaded with raspberries at Western Precooling in California and was destined for a Metro warehouse in Etobicoke.

Defence lawyer Frank Miller said he was pleased for his client, a married father of two. “He’s a hard-working man.”

Miller said Knezevic continued to work driving a truck after being charged, but has only worked within Canada.

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A former St. Clair College student who participated in a violent convenience store robbery in 2013 was sentenced Tuesday to another four years and four months in prison.

Maher Abdullah Falah-Abdullah, 23, has already spent more than a year in jail for the June 3, 2013 robbery. With the customary enhanced credit for time served awaiting sentencing, Falah-Abdullah got 20 months knocked off what would have been a seven-year penitentiary term.

Falah-Abdullah and Amir Al-Hakim, also 23, helped plan the robbery of a convenience store owner working alone. Court heard Tuesday that the pair — with Lamar Porter, 29, and Jhoan Sebastin Aguelo-Duque, 23, keeping lookout outside — burst into the Parent Avenue corner store about 1 a.m. and beat the store owner with the butt of a sawed-off shotgun.

Toronto police, conducting surveillance on Porter, had tapped Porter’s cellphone and had been listening to him and Falah-Abdullah plan the robbery.

The store owner, who was beaten in the face and knees during the robbery that lasted two hours, lost his business because of his inability to work following the attack. The man and his family are now on social assistance.

But Falah-Abdullah, in addressing the court Tuesday, had no words of remorse for what he did to the man. In a long, drawn-out explanation for his “mistake,” Falah-Abdullah told Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas that being in jail has taught him the error of his ways. Falah-Abdullah also claimed he was “forced” to participate in the robbery under threat that harm would come to his family.

“I reject that explanation,” Thomas told Falah-Abdullah. Police were listening to his conversations with Porter and there was no evidence of coercion. Falah-Abdullah has a 2010 conviction for a similar armed robbery, the judge pointed out.

The 2013 robbery, the judge told Falah-Abdullah is “consistent with your record.”

Al-Hakim pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced in Ontario court to four years in prison — the minimum sentence allowed by law.

Noting her client’s young age, defence lawyer Maria Carroccia asked Thomas to impose the same sentence for Falah-Abdullah.

Assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Holmes asked for a sentence of six to seven years. Al-Hakim came before the court with no criminal record. Falah-Abdullah not only had a conviction for another armed robbery, he had convictions for breaching conditions of the bail he was granted for this robbery.

Carroccia said Falah-Abdullah had been at St. Clair studying to become a lab technician. His studies were suspended when he was jailed. Falah-Abdullah, who immigrated to Canada from Iraq with his parents and two brothers, said he regrets committing crimes rather than pursuing the opportunity offered by his adopted homeland. “I was in a place like Canada… where options were there for me and they were good options.”

The judge said he was glad the young man recognized that.

“One of the reasons immigrants find Canada attractive is that we have the rule of law,” Thomas said. “You face punishment when you breach the laws of the country you call home.”

Thomas imposed on Falah-Abdullah a lifetime firearms prohibition and ordered the he provide a blood sample for the national DNA databank used by police to solve crime.

Porter was described in court as the “directing mind” of the robbery. He and Agudelo-Duque have pleaded not guilty and are headed to trial.

Noting that Falah-Abdullah’s accomplices have not yet stood trial, Holmes asked for a publication ban on Tuesday’s hearing. The judge denied the request.

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A Windsor man caught on video beating a muskie to death before throwing it back into the Detroit River was fined $1,000 Wednesday and banned from fishing for two years.

Edmond L. Parent, 53, better known as Eddie Parent, pleaded guilty in Ontario court to breaching Ontario regulations under the Fisheries Act. Parent admitted he purposefully killed an undersized muskellunge, or as court heard, “failed to release it in a way that caused the least harm to the fish.”

Parent was fishing in the Detroit River Sept. 3 when two nearby anglers saw him bludgeoning a fish he had caught then throwing it back in the water. They approached him and captured him on video in a expletive-laced diatribe about how he kills every muskie he comes across because they eat the fish he likes to catch.

The anglers posted the video online, capturing the attention of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. The video garnered tens of thousands of views within days and, with media attention, members of the public offered up Parent’s name.

Prosecutor Demetrius Kappos Wednesday asked justice of the peace Salma Jaffar to impose a $2,000 fine. Hearing that Parent is on social assistance, Jaffar imposed a $1,000 fine and gave Parent three months to pay.

Parent, who quickly left the courthouse Wednesday, cannot fish for two years or be with anyone who is fishing or carrying fishing equipment or tackle.

Muskie is a trophy fish managed by the MNR because of the species’ slow growth and low reproduction rate. The possession limit is one. According to provincial legislation, any muskie less than 112 centimetres long must be immediately released in a manner that causes the least harm to the fish.

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A Windsor man already serving jail time for other crimes was acquitted Thursday of a home invasion in which the assailant’s weapons of choice were a plumbing wrench and a can in a sock.

Darrell S. McNaughton, 35, was found not guilty in a Dec. 13, 2013 home invasion on Hickory Road.

Peter Risatti testified he was in his living room about 11:30 p.m. waiting for a neighbour to drop by to return money he had borrowed. Risatti said he had left the door unlocked at the bottom of the stairs. When he heard someone come in, he walked to the top of the stairs. He was met by a stranger who was swearing and telling him to get on the ground. Risatti said he thought it was a joke until the man started swinging weapons at him. He was clipped on the forehead with the can in the sock. It later took two stitches to close the wound.

Risatti said he stomped on the floor, summoning his neighbour who lived downstairs. The neighbour tackled the intruder, but the man managed to “squirm” away.

The neighbour’s wife called police who arrived just minutes after the attack. Constables Adam Spinarsky and Aaron Nacklie said they headed down the alley in the direction the intruder ran away. The man who had been coming to see Risatti was outside and directed officers to a home Whelpton Street. Inside, they found McNaughton and a pair of pants with Risatti’s blood on them.

Defence lawyer John Liddle pointed out discrepancies in the officers’ testimony. Spinarsky said McNaughton wasn’t wearing pants when he was arrested. Nacklie said he was. They also gave differing accounts of the shirt McNaughton was wearing.

Liddle called the case against his client “entirely circumstantial,” and urged Ontario court Justice Barry Tobin to acquit.

The judge did, saying there was no evidence tying McNaughton to the pants.

The acquittal did not secure McNaughton’s freedom. There was a warrant for his arrest at the time of the home invasion on unrelated charges. Liddle said he is currently serving time for property offences.

McNaughton has a long criminal record. He was featured in media reports about a 2007 riot at Windsor Jail where he was an inmate at the time.

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A habitual thief who last September held up a woman at a bank machine with an imitation handgun was sentenced Friday to 5½ years in prison.

Keimonty Grayer, 28, pleaded guilty to 17 offences, most of them committed during a “crime spree” that began last May and ended with her arrest after the automated teller holdup in September. Court heard Grayer, who had six previous convictions and will be heading to trial on another, was in a spiral of drug addiction and mental illness at the time.

With the usual enhanced credit for time served, Grayer was sentenced to an additional four years and nine months behind bars.

Defence lawyer Christina Sweet implored Ontario court Justice Sharman Bondy to impose a total sentence of four years, reduced to three years and three months with time already served. Assistant Crown attorney Tim Kavanagh sought an “exemplary sentence” of six years before any reduction for time served.

Grayer begged the judge to just sentence her to anything. In an angry outburst at her last court appearance, Grayer said she was being mistreated at the South West Detention Centre and would take any sentence just to be transferred out.

Grayer’s sentencing had already been adjourned three times.

Bondy took time Friday to ask Grayer how she was feeling, promising her that her sentencing would not be postponed again. Grayer smiled and said she has been taking four medications for her mental health issues and has been treated better by guards.

Grayer’s lawyer said the version of Grayer in court Friday was completely different than the “out of control” young woman she visited in jail when she took on the case.

Grayer’s crime spree included breaking into homes at night when the residents where sleeping. Bondy called those crimes particularly “brazen.”

In one case, Grayer stole a woman’s school bag containing all the documents she needed for a nursing program she was entering. The woman had to delay her schooling and missed family holiday celebrations in Michigan because Grayer had also taken her passport.

Grayer would use the credit cards she stole, once ringing up $3,200 in purchases at Sears. She broke into a car and cashed cheques she found inside.

She broke into student housing buildings and a hotel. On Sept. 10, Grayer lay in wait with a fake handgun at the Royal Bank on Tecumseh Road East late at night. When a customer made a withdrawal at the bank machine about 11:20 p.m., Grayer held the gun to the woman’s head. The robbery attempt was scuttled when the customer’s boyfriend approached and scared Grayer away.

“Most of Ms. Grayer’s crimes occurred at a time when she was particularly out of control,” the judge noted. The judge noted Grayer was so “strung out,” she was careless in her crimes. Once while breaking into a house and stealing a purse and clothing, she left her own purse with her identification behind.

While the judge imposed a sentence closer to what the prosecution was seeking, she gave Grayer a break on the fines that would normally accompany her crimes. Each count usually carries a $100 or $200 fine that goes into a fund to help victims of crime. Grayer’s fines would have totalled about $2,000. Calling that “cruel and unusual punishment,” the judge waived the fines.

Court heard Grayer was born into a two-parent family, but that her father abused both Grayer and her mother. Her mom has been supportive, but found her daughter hard to control.

Grayer began using marijuana at age 16 and turned to increasingly harder drugs in an effort to self-medicate for bipolar and borderline personality disorders.

A probation officer who prepared a background report on Grayer for the sentencing judge said Grayer poses “a significant risk to reoffend.”

ssacheli@windsorstar.com or @WinStarSacheli

In the wake of a crash that claimed the life of a Michigan woman, the county is making changes to the intersection of Walker and South Talbot roads.

Speed limits on both roads will be reduced to 60 km per hour approaching the intersection. The current speed limit is 80 km per hour. There will be a no-passing zone on Walker Road and stop signs on South Talbot will be moved closer to the pavement.

Carolyn Dutta, 44, died in a crash at the intersection on New Year’s Eve. Her eight-year-old daughter was seriously injured. Dutta was a passenger in a vehicle driven by her husband.

Tom Bateman, county engineer, said police reports on crashes at the intersection suggest drivers on South Talbot misjudge the speed of cars travelling on Walker. At Wednesday night’s county council meeting, Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara said some drivers are blowing through the stop sign on South Talbot altogether.

McNamara asked about rumble strips being carved into the pavement, but Bateman said the noise from cars driving over them will annoy neighbours. “I imagine we will get a fair number of complaints from the residents,” Bateman warned.

The county, over the years, has made improvements to the intersection. In 2004, Old Castle Road was closed eliminating a “fifth leg” of the intersection, said Bateman. More recently, the county installed larger stop signs on South Talbot and installed a flashing red and amber light overhead.

South Talbot crosses Walker at a “skewed angle,” Bateman said. While sight lines are still good, the angle may contribute to drivers misjudging the speed of traffic or gaps between vehicles.

Bateman said the county should consider redesigning the intersection. If traffic lights are warranted, the intersection will need to be widened to accommodate left-turn lanes. The county would need to buy abutting property and put in drains.

The cost of the project would be shared with Tecumseh.

The county conducted traffic counts at the intersection in May 2011. The count did another count in January following the crash. Traffic volumes will continue to be monitored, Bateman said.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

On the day Cole Charles Rickett crashed into an SUV carrying a Michigan family, killing one woman and injuring her husband and children, he’d had four pints of beer before getting behind the wheel, his Superior Court trial heard Monday.

OPP Const. Michael Whitelaw said Rickett made that admission to him near the crash site at the intersection of South Talbot and Walker roads. Whitelaw said Rickett’s eyes were red, he was unsteady on his feet and he had the smell of alcohol on his breath.

Rickett, 30, is charged with 10 drunk-driving related offences, including impaired driving causing death, for the Dec. 31, 2011 crash. Carolyn Dutta, 44, of Ann Arbor, died in the crash. Dutta’s husband, Suman, and the couple’s three children were injured.

Monday was the first day of trial.

Whitelaw said paramedics and firefighters were already tending to the family when he arrived after 2:30 p.m. One emergency worker handed him a car seat holding a bleeding child. He delivered the little girl to a waiting ambulance.

Whitelaw said he then turned his attention to Rickett, who at first said he didn’t need medical attention. He said Rickett seemed in a fog, looking past him during their conversation with what Whitelaw described as a “thousand-yard stare.”

The officer said when he asked Rickett if he’d been drinking, Rickett at first told him he’d had “two beers at lunch.” Asked again, Rickett said he’d had “four pints at Boston Pizza,” Whitelaw testified.

Whitelaw said he wrote down verbatim what Rickett said next.

“I’m (expletive), aren’t I? They pulled out in front of me. I couldn’t do anything and now I’m gonna lose my job. There was nothing I could do.”

Whitelaw testified that when he arrested him, Rickett had two beer bottle caps in his pocket.

A resident who lived nearby said he was outside his home letting his dog out when he heard the squeal of tires.

Steven Macvoy said he went to the intersection and spoke to Rickett who denied responsibility for the crash. “He said the other car pulled out in front of him.”

The intersection, at the time of the crash, had an amber flashing light on Walker Road and a flashing red light with oversized stop signs on South Talbot Road.

“It’s a fairly difficult intersection to cross,” Macvoy testified.

The sightlines on Walker Road were good, Macvoy said, but, “It’s very difficult to see when you are on South Talbot.” The stop signs were so big they were hard to see around.

Raymond Simard, a Tecumseh firefighter, also lives near the intersection. He heard the crash from his home and rushed to the scene, dispatching emergency crews.

Simard said the intersection has been the scene of a number of serious accidents. The stop signs, despite being oversized, were obscured by signs for nearby businesses, he testified.

The speed limit on both roads was 80 km/h. After the crash, the speed limit was lowered to 60 km/h and traffic lights were installed at the intersection, Simard said.

Dutta’s widower is scheduled to take the witness stand Tuesday. The trial is expected to run until the end of the month.

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An oversized stop sign on South Talbot Road may have prevented Suman Dutta from seeing oncoming traffic at Walker Road, the man testified Tuesday.

The Michigan father pulled into the intersection Dec. 31, 2011 and was almost immediately struck by a southbound pickup truck driven by Cole Charles Rickett. Dutta’s wife, Carolyn, 44, died from injuries she sustained in the crash. The couple’s three children were also injured.

Rickett, 30, is charged with impaired driving causing death and nine other related charges. His trial has heard Rickett told police he’d consumed four pints of beer before getting behind the wheel of his Chevrolet pickup truck and heading south on Walker Road.

The trial in Superior Court Tuesday heard that Dutta had a flashing red light and stop sign at the intersection. Dutta said he stopped at the intersection then pulled into it without ever seeing Rickett’s truck approaching.

Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme suggested Dutta had driven straight through the intersection. Dutta disagreed. “No, I stopped.”

Ducharme asked Dutta if he was on his cellphone at the time of the crash. Dutta again said, “No.”

Ducharme then showed Dutta photos of the intersection. Ducharme suggested the stop sign was so big it blocked the view of traffic approaching the intersection from the north.

Dutta agreed the sign would make it difficult to see all but traffic off in the distance.

The father said he and his family had just left a home “a couple miles away” where they had a visited a friend. The friend was visiting with her parents in Essex County. The home was west of the intersection.

Dutta was driving the family Acura SUV. His wife was in the front passenger seat. Their three children were asleep in the back.

Dutta said he was driving on South Talbot Road and as he approached Walker, he stopped at the intersection. The only north-south traffic he saw was in the distance.

“I looked to the south. I looked to the north. I looked to the south again.”

He pulled into the intersection and was struck by Rickett’s truck.

“I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear a horn or screeching or brakes.”

Court has heard the intersection had poor sight lines, and that after the fatal crash, traffic lights were installed.

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The Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation is suing the Detroit Tigers to get back Ty Cobb memorabilia it says was removed from the grounds of its Kingsville sanctuary and sold illegally to the team.

The foundation, with charitable status in Canada and the United States, has launched court actions on both sides of the border. The actions name Kirk W. Miner, Jack Miner’s grandson and former foundation president, as the defendant.

Detroit Tigers’ Ty Cobb posing in his uniform and holding a bat in 1915. (Howard Muller/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

According to court documents, Kirk Miner sold the Tigers a bat and ball signed by Cobb, as well as two letters the hall of famer penned. The foundation learned of the sale by accident in January, when proof of a $24,000 payment to Kirk Miner was sent to the non-profit group. It’s not known how much the Tigers paid for the items, but the court documents say the $24,000 wire transfer to Kirk Miner was one of two payments he received and that additional payments remained due.

According to the foundation, those items, and others removed by Miner from the Kingsville sanctuary, belong to the charity.

The foundation is careful not to say the items were stolen by Kirk Miner. “Kirk Miner has wrongfully retained possession of, and wrongfully exerted dominion over, property belonging to the foundation,” the U.S. lawsuit states.

Kirk Miner was served Wednesday with copies of the U.S. lawsuit as well as documents including a preservation order filed in Windsor.  He appeared in a Windsor courtroom where a Superior Court judge ordered him to make a list of every item he removed from the sanctuary property, even things he believes are rightly his.

The foundation’s list of missing items include two Ty Cobb baseball bats, two baseballs signed by Ty Cobb, at least seven handwritten letters to Jack Miner’s sons from Ty Cobb, two letters from Ty Cobb Jr. to Jack Miner and his son Manly Miner, an antique baseball glove, a binder of letters to and from Jack Miner and Manly Miner to and from heads of state from around the world, a Queen Elizabeth coronation figurine and 6,500 migratory bird leg bands.

The leg bands are worth $50 to $100 each, the U.S. lawsuit states. One of the exhibits filed along with the lawsuit is a news story about another Ty Cobb bat selling for $253,000.

The foundation’s list was derived from an account written by Jack Miner’s eldest son Manly, found tucked away in a box of papers last year, said Mary Baruth, executive director of the foundation. Staff set about cleaning out every “last cubbyhole” in the site’s various buildings before coming up with the list of missing items.

Some of the items can be seen in old family photographs also entered as court exhibits in Wayne County state court.

“These are irreplaceable,” Baruth said.

In an interview after court in Windsor Wednesday, Miner was reluctant to discuss the missing items. “I don’t want to say too much about this,” he said. He did however, give a detailed account of his family’s history and how, in taking over as foundation president from his Uncle Manly, he rubbed elbows with America’s business elite. He once met Ted Turner at the Detroit Economic Club. “He liked my tie,” Miner said.

Kirk Miner, grandson of Canadian conservationist Jack Miner, is pictured on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. (DYLAN KRISTY/The Windsor Star)

Miner, 66, said he was wintering in Arizona when he discovered Monday his bank accounts had been frozen. He flew back to the area Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. and was in court in Windsor four hours later.

“I wasn’t planning to be back until April,” he said. April 1 is the soonest he can move into his trailer in Colchester for the season, he said.

Miner used to live on the sanctuary in the house his grandfather built in 1922. He was evicted from the home by the foundation’s board of directors in August 2012 after being fired as foundation president in March of that year.

“Unfortunately, Kirk Miner failed to act in the best interests of the foundation and began abusing his position as president through financial improprieties, misfeasance, and neglect,” the U.S. lawsuit states.

Miner sued for wrongful dismissal and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Kirk Miner told The Star he built up a $5-million endowment fund. The investment income covered the foundation’s operating costs, he said.

Canada geese are seen at Jack Miner’s Sanctuary in Kingsville, Ont. in this 2011 file photo. (JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)

Jack Miner founded the sanctuary in 1904 and soon began corresponding with the Royal family and other prominent people around the world to garner support for his conservation efforts. Sanctuary visitors included Marilyn Monroe and Kellogg’s founder Will Keith Kellogg. Jack Miner counted Henry Ford among his closest friends.

Ty Cobb called on Jack Miner one day after reading about him in outdoors magazines. A fast friendship grew. Jack and Manly Miner would invite Cobb on hunting outings and Cobb would reciprocate with tickets to Tiger games. In his autobiography, Cobb wrote that knowing Jack Miner was “one of the finest things that happened to me in the wonderful world I found away from baseball.”

According to the U.S. lawsuit, Jack Miner left his home and its contents to his wife – property that transferred to Manly upon his mother’s death.

Manly was the foundation’s second president. His nephew, Kirk, was his successor.

Manly, in his will, bequeathed his chattle to the foundation, with the exception of silverware and a set of Royal Crown Derby dishes he left to his daughter Wilhelmina. Manly Miner’s will features prominently in the lawsuits on both sides of the border.

As charitable foundations, Jack Miner’s was established in 1936 in the United States and 1931 in Canada. This April marks the 150^th anniversary of Jack Miner’s birth and a celebration is in the works.

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The officer who determined a driver in a fatal crash had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream was accused of lying on the witness stand Thursday.

OPP Const. Michael Zajac testified he administered two breath tests to Cole Charles Rickett on Dec. 31, 2011, after the pickup truck Rickett was driving on Walker Road slammed into an SUV at the intersection of South Talbot Road. The SUV was carrying an Ann Arbor, Mich., family.

Rickett blew readings of 161 and 152 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Drivers can face criminal charges when readings exceed 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Rickett, 30, is charged with impaired driving causing death and multiple counts of impaired driving, impaired driving causing bodily harm and driving with an excessive concentration of alcohol in his blood – 10 counts in all.

Carolyn Dutta, 44, died from injuries she suffered in the crash. Her husband, Suman, and their three children were injured.

Zajac, a certified breath technician for the OPP,  said he packed up his Intoxylyzer 8000C and took it to Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital where Rickett was being treated.

After confirming with a doctor that Rickett was able to blow into the machine, Zajac administered the breath test twice.

Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme questioned the validity of the test results. Vibration can affect the machine, Zajac conceded. Ducharme pointed out the machine would have been shaken during the commute to the hospital, despite the fact the officer had strapped a seat belt around it.

Also, no maintenance logs were available for that particular unit, court heard.

Ducharme also zeroed in on the fact that the printout from the machine recorded a different lot number of the solution used in the tests. The lot number listed on the printout could have been expired.

The officer testified he changed the solution before Rickett’s test, but failed to input the new lot number.

“I made the error,” Zajac testified. “I think the transition to the hospital may have thrown me off.”

Ducharme accused the officer of not telling the truth.

“That’s a phoney explanation by you.”

The trial resumes Monday before Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas.

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A Windsor drug dealer who supplemented his welfare payments by selling crack cocaine was sentenced Monday to 2½ years in prison.

Pasquale Depierro, 55, used to work in construction as a painter. An injury put him out of work, so he turned to dealing drugs.

“I know I screwed up,” Depierro told Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas. “I’m prepared to face the consequences.”

Police raided Depierro’s Ouellette Avenue apartment Nov. 30, 2012. They’d been tipped off that he was selling crack and had watched him make a sale in what federal drug prosecutor Sue Szasz called a “hand-to-hand transaction”

Inside the apartment, police found almost 47 grams of crack cocaine and more than four grams of powdered cocaine. Police also found two digital scales with cocaine residue on them, packaging materials and a total of $1,100 in cash on the kitchen and living room tables.

Szasz and defence lawyer Laura Joy agreed to the 2½-year sentence as part of a plea negotiation.

Depierro pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. Each count carries a minimum one-year sentence.

Depierro has prior drug convictions from 2006 and 2009.

Depierro spent nearly two months in jail before being released on bail. With credit for time served, he was sentenced Monday to an additional two years and three months behind bars.

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A Windsor man who held up a convenience store with a homemade spear was sentenced Monday to 13 months in jail.

Christopher Timothy Urquhart, 22, taped a butcher knife to a metre-long stick from a tree. He covered his face in a dark scarf, pulled his hood over his head and robbed a clerk working alone Jan. 13 at the Mac’s convenience store on Mill Street. Urquhart was caught on security video entering the store at 11:43 p.m. with a black backpack over the end of his spear.

“If you call the cops, I’ll kill you,” he told the clerk, who emptied his till and handed Urquhart 20 packages of Pall Mall cigarettes. Urquhart also stole a donation box for children with cystic fibrosis, using the blade of his makeshift spear to cut away the string that fastened the box to the countertop.

Outside the store, Urquhart dropped the scarf he had used to mask the lower part of his face. Police found it in a tree and sent it away for testing, later learning it had Urquhart’s DNA on it

Urquhart was arrested three days later after breaking into a car off Lauzon Road. Residents in an apartment building saw him and accomplice Christopher Robinson smash the passenger window of a Neon and called police. When officers caught up with the duo walking on Lauzon Road, Robinson was carrying the spear used in the Mac’s robbery.

Police interviewed Urquhart’s friends who said Urquhart had bragged about holding up the convenience store and was planning the robbery of another Mac’s. The father of one friend told police he gave Urquhart electrical tape used to make the spear.

Police further built their case by checking Urquhart’s Facebook page. He had posted a picture of himself wearing the same jacket he wore during the robbery. Another post had him in a white, blue and brown checked shirt – the same fabric used to cover parts of the shaft of his homemade spear. At the time of his arrest, Urquhart was wearing the same high-top running shoes as in the robbery video.

“I apologize for my actions,” Urquhart said when asked if he’d like to address the court. Later, he turned to his family in court, blew them a kiss and said, “I love you all.”

Urquhart has been in jail since his Jan. 16 arrest. With credit for time served, he was sentenced Monday to an additional 10 months and 24 days.

He pleaded guilty to armed robbery and wearing a face mask during the commission of a crime. He also pleaded guilty to mischief for breaking the car window three days after the robbery.

Defence lawyer John Sitter said Urquhart has a roofing job through a “family connection” waiting for him once he completes his jail sentence.

Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean imposed three years probation following jail. During his probation, Urquhart must make restitution for everything he broke and stole. He must pay Cystic Fibrosis Canada $100 for the stolen donation box and $260 to the Mill Street Mac’s for the stolen cash and cigarettes. He must also pay $180 to the owner of the car whose window he smashed.

He was also fined $500 – mandatory levies that go into a fund to help victims of crime.

Urquhart is prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years and must submit a blood sample for the national DNA databank police use to solve crime.

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A Windsor man who once bludgeoned his roommate to death with a flashlight was sentenced Tuesday to time served and probation for stabbing a more recent roommate in the back.

George Robert Brown, 52, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault for the alcohol-fuelled stabbing on Nov. 30, 2012. Court heard Graham McGowan, 52, had been staying at Brown’s home on Campbell Avenue. The two were drinking and McGowan began taunting Brown with a knife. The argument got physical and continued on and off all night, interspersed with more drinking. When police were called to the home at 4:25 a.m., McGowan had two stab wounds to his back.

McGowan was rushed to hospital in Detroit where had emergency surgery on collapsed lungs and a lacerated liver.

McGowan would not co-operate with police, refusing even to say who had stabbed him.

A witness with the men that night told police about the fight. Brown was found at the home splattered and smeared in McGowan’s blood.

Brown was convicted of manslaughter in 2001 for killing his best friend. Brown had been on a three-day drinking binge when he clubbed Bruce Vear to death with a foot-long flashlight Feb. 21, 2000.

He was sentenced to five years in a federal penitentiary.

In the more recent incident, Brown had been charged with attempted murder. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated assault as part of a plea bargain.

Without the co-operation of the stabbed man, prosecution would have been difficult, assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Holmes conceded, agreeing to a sentence of time served.

Brown spent seven months in jail after his arrest. Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas gave Brown the usual enhanced credit for time served, meaning he has already served a sentence equivalent to 10½ months behind bars.

Brown has been free on bail on conditions of house arrest. He has been caring for his elderly father who suffers from a degenerative bone disease, said defence lawyer Julie Santarossa. Brown has steered clear of alcohol and has not breached his bail conditions.

“You should understand the importance of you not drinking,” Thomas told Brown.

Thomas placed Brown on probation for three years during which time he must take counselling for alcohol addiction. Thomas handed Brown a lifetime firearms prohibition and ordered him to submit a blood sample for the national DNA databank used by police to solve crimes.

Brown must also pay a mandatory $200 fine that goes into a fund to help victims of crime.

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A Michigan mother is dead, but the drunk driver who hit her is not to blame.

So ruled a Windsor judge Friday, finding Cole Charles Rickett, 30, guilty of impaired driving, but not guilty of impaired driving causing death. Rickett was spared jail time and was instead fined $2,300. He also loses his drivers’ licence for 18 months.

Rickett was southbound on Walker Road in his Chevy pickup truck about 2:30 p.m. Dec. 31, 2011 when an Acura SUV pulled out in front of him at the intersection of South Talbot Road. Rickett’s pickup hit the SUV broadside, killing Carolyn Foley-Dutta and injuring her husband and three children.

There was nothing Rickett – even if sober – could have done to avoid the crash, said Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas.

“It is attractive to reason that Rickett would have been able to do something if not impaired by alcohol – perhaps swerve or at least soften the impact by braking,” the judge said. But, Thomas said, there was no evidence to support that reasoning.

A collision expert who testified at Rickett’s trial earlier this month said Rickett would have had less than 1.5 seconds to react to avoid the collision. Sightlines at the intersection were bad, with commercial signs, construction signs and even the oversized stop sign on South Talbot Road blocking drivers’ views of approaching cars.

The intersection was redesigned after the crash and stoplights installed.

Rickett had at least twice the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream at the time of crash, Thomas said, finding Rickett guilty of impaired driving and driving with more than 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. Thomas stayed the over-80 charge, as it’s referred to, under a legal principal that says a person cannot be punished twice for the same crime.

Rickett was found not guilty of eight other charges, including drunk driving causing Foley-Dutta’s death and multiple counts of drunk driving causing bodily harm to her family.

Blood test readings showed Rickett had at least 160 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood at the time of the crash. Rickett’s lawyer had attempted at trial to prove the breath-test readings were unreliable, but the judge rejected the arguments.

Rickett testified in his own defence at his trial. Before the crash, he had met a friend for lunch at Boston Pizza where he ate finger foods and had three pints of Coors Light, he said. Rickett’s friend, Randy Montgomery, took the witness stand and backed up what Rickett had to say.

But a forensic toxicologist put a lie to their testimony, saying Rickett’s blood-alcohol would have been much lower if that’s all Rickett had had to drink.

At the time of his arrest, Rickett had two beer caps in his pocket. He had empties in his truck. While Rickett insisted the caps were from the day before, the judge believed the man had consumed those two beers in addition to what he’d had at lunch.

Assistant Crown attorney Lisa Defoe had asked Thomas to sentence Rickett to a short jail term of 30 to 60 days. She also asked for probation of three years.

The Dutta family did not comment on the judge’s ruling.

Dutta’s widower, Suman, and other family members were in court in the morning, but did not return in the afternoon. They declined to make a statement as part of the sentencing process.

Instead, they issued a statement by email, thanking the Windsor community for its support.

Rickett offered no words of apology. Before passing sentence, Thomas asked the man if he had anything to say. Rickett shook his head and uttered a barely audible, “No.”

Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme said Rickett is a father of three and works for construction giant Aecon, laying lines for Bell Canada. His employer has already agreed to let Rickett keep his job despite not being able to drive.

The trial and the spectre of a jail term hanging over his head for the past 3 ½ years has weighed heavily on the man, Ducharme said. Rickett has a history of speeding tickets, but no criminal record.

“He’s learned a valuable lesson,” Ducharme said. “If he hadn’t had anything to drink, he wouldn’t have had to go through this.”

Ducharme said Rickett’s case is a cautionary tale for all drivers.

“Everytime you drink and get behind the wheel you make yourself so vulnerable. Even if you’re not the cause of an accident, you are certainly going to be the focal point.”

• Police ID driver facing charges in deadly crash on Walker Road
• Closing arguments heard in trial of alleged drunk driver in fatal crash
• Breath-test officer accused of lying in fatal drunk driving trial
• Michigan father pulled into intersection into path of truck, trial hears
• Driver drank ‘four pints’ before fatal crash, trial hears

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

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