Saskatchewan man loses bid to sue province over ‘malicious prosecution’

The Court of King's Bench in Regina can be seen in this file photo. (Sierra D'Souza Butts/CTV News)

A Saskatchewan man who was found not guilty of sexual assault, but was tried and convicted on other criminal counts, recently lost his bid to sue the province for what he called “malicious prosecution.”

On May 9, 2022, Joel Kerry Maurer was charged in connection to the sexual assault of a 24-year-old woman in Regina.

Later, on May 18, he was found and arrested by Regina police. However, Maurer would face additional charges stemming from the events around his arrest. The new charges included possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest and injuring a police dog.

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At trial in May 2023, Maurer was ultimately found not guilty of the original charge of sexual assault but was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest and injuring a police dog.

Maurer’s appealed his conviction, but it was ultimately upheld by Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal in early 2024.

Following this decision, Maurer launched a civil lawsuit against the Crown.

In his arguments to Saskatchewan’s Court of King’s Bench, Maurer claimed he should have never been charged with sexual assault due to the eventual not guilty verdict, and therefore the arrest which resulted in the additional charges, should have never happened.

According to court documents, Maurer demanded $4.64 million in compensation from the Crown for what he described as “negligence” and “misfeasance in office” related to his accusation of malicious prosecution.

The statement of claim, which originally named the Crown prosecutors involved in Maurer’s trial, was amended twice. The claim’s final version named only the Government of Saskatchewan.

The Crown, in turn, called on the Court of King’s Bench to dismiss the statement of claim.

In response, Maurer requested the court adjourn the matter, which was ultimately rejected.

In his Jan. 30 decision, Justice Neil Robertson explained the logic behind Maurer’s request to have the case adjourned was to “await investigations by other agencies which might reveal facts which would support his claim against Saskatchewan,” noting Maurer conceded that he didn’t have any evidence to prove the allegations made in his statement of claim.

“Even if such evidence emerged, which is highly speculative and would occur long down the road, such evidence of prosecutorial misconduct would not change the above analysis,” Robertson wrote.

Going further, Robertson pointed to the fact that the Court of Appeal had already upheld Maurer’s conviction and a statement of claim against the province is not legally sound, as the province is protected from liability by The Proceedings Against the Crown Act, 2019.

“I agree with Saskatchewan that the statement of claim does not disclose a reasonable cause of action because, even if the allegations of fact in the statement of claim were proved, Saskatchewan could not be liable for the wrongs alleged,” the justice wrote in his decision.

“Saskatchewan is the only defendant. Most of the bases of the claims would pertain to individual defendants who are no longer named in the action.”

Ultimately, Maurer’s civil suit was rejected by the court, and the province was awarded $500 in costs.