Perjury case for Mounties in Dziekanski case postponed

The legal proceedings against four Mounties involved in the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport have been delayed until next month.

Constables Bill Bentley, Kwesi Millington, Gerry Rundell and Cpl. Benjamin Robinson are accused of lying about their actions during the confrontation with the Polish immigrant in 2007.

Dziekanski died after being stunned several times with a Taser.

The officers did not appear in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday but a lawyer acting on their behalf asked for a date change. The matter has now been put over until Sept. 28. Special prosecutor Richard Peck said he believes disclosure will be completed by then. The case will proceed by direct indictment.

The officers told inquiry head Thomas Braidwood that they acted with violence because they believed they were in danger during the airport scuffle. But a bystander's video of the incident contradicted their statements and Braidwood rejected their testimony in his final report.

Although no criminal charges were ever laid against the men, Peck approved the perjury charges in May after spending several months reviewing the case.

He assessed whether the officers were criminally liable for Dziekanski's death and could be charged with manslaughter, assault and assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessities of life.

But Peck concluded "there is no substantial likelihood of conviction in relation to those sets of offences."

The Braidwood Inquiry cost B.C. taxpayers almost $4.5 million.

One of the officers involved, Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, is currently suspended from the RCMP and will soon stand trial for obstruction of justice following an unrelated fatal car crash in October 2008.

Robinson failed two separate police breathalyzer tests after hitting 21-year-old motorcyclist Orion Hutchinson with his Jeep.

Const. Gerry Rundel, the first officer to take the stand at the official inquiry into Dziekanski's death, is currently on desk duty in Nanaimo.

Const. Bill Bentley, who had been working at the Vancouver airport for just one month when Dziekanski died, is working for an RCMP security detail in Toronto.

The constable who fired the Taser, Zwesi Millington, is working for a commercial crime section in Milton, Ontario.

Lawyers for two of the accused said their clients will plead not guilty and vigorously defend themselves.

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  RCMP officers approach Robert Dziekanski to talk with him at the Vancouver Airport in this image from video. Gripping video of a would-be Polish immigrant's last minutes in the Vancouver airport has been released to the public. (HO-Paul Pritchard / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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  RCMP Const. Bill Bentley arrives to testify at the Braidwood inquiry into the Taser-related death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday Feb. 25, 2009. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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  RCMP Const. Kwesi Millington re-enters the hearing room following the morning break at the Braidwood inquiry into the Taser-related death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver, B.C., on Monday, March 2, 2009. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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  RCMP Const. Gerry Rundel departs for the lunch break during the second day of his testimony at the Braidwood inquiry into the Taser-related death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)