Fall out from the Gerald Stanley trial, special prosecutors for Calgary police and AI-based face swapping

What's to be learned from Gerald Stanley's trial? Reviewing the verdict in a high profile murder trial that had left a province, perhaps the country, divided.

Our Crime Panel looks at calls for bringing in special prosecutors on all cases involving police officers, questions raised by AI-based face swapping software and what's to be learned from the Gerald Stanley trial?

Reviewing the verdict in a high profile murder trial that has left a province and perhaps the country, divided

Rallies were held across Canada after a Saskatchewan jury found 56-year-old Gerald Stanley not guilty in the death of 22-year-old Colten Boushie. It's a case that has sparked racial tensions across the country, raising questions about the way Indigenous people are treated by the courts. The Boushie family say's justice was not served in this case, and want change.

Boushie was fatally shot on the Stanley’s Saskatchewan farm in August 2016. An altercation occurred between Stanley’s family and Boushie following his arrival on the farm in a vehicle with four other people from Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

Many are asking why the 12 member jury in the case all appeared to be Caucasian when the jury pool was doubled to allow over seven hundred people to be considered for a juror position.. It's led to calls for justice reform from Indigenous groups across Canada. The calls have not gone unanswered.. The federal government has committed to reviewing jury selection rules following that meeting between government officials and the Boushie family this week in Ottawa.

Calgary Police respond to call for special prosecutors on police cases

Calgary’s Chief of Police has responded to calls from the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association to create a special group of prosecutors to handle all cases involving charges against police.

The CTLA issued an open letter to Alberta’s assistant deputy justice minister asking that lawyers with expertise in areas of use of force, policing procedures and who are not vulnerable to any level of coercion or intimation should be assigned to cases involving cops.

In a response to the CTLA, the Chief say’s he welcomes an “open and frank” discussion, however, he had a strong response to the notion that prosecutors faced pressure from police. In his written response published in Postmedia newspapers this week he wrote, “I do not consider veiled and unproven accusations of intimidation of justice officials by police to be constructive.

The very suggestion that police are intimidating Crown counsel, and that Crown counsel can be intimidated, is a startling and serious allegation. To casually suggest that charges are not laid, or that they are dropped, because of police intimidation is irresponsible and offensive to my members and all of those who work in the justice system.”

Concerns are being raised about the rise in the creation of “fake porn”

Concerns are being raised about the rise in the creation of “fake porn”.

FakeApp uses artificial intelligence algorithms to create fake porn out of anyone’s videos by face-swapping a person’s face onto a performer’s body.

Earlier this week Reddit suspended the forum where the app was first developed and popular pornography sites, such as PornHub, have banned videos made using the app from their platform. Some are questioning whether videos created on the app are illegal, and what could someone victimized by this app do to seek justice.

Joining us on the Crime Panel is: Dino Bottos, defence lawyer; Steve Penney, professor in the faculty of Law at the University of Alberta and Kevin Martin, Postmedia court reporter