Man convicted after nearly leaving trial

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This article was published 19/07/2024 (208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Willy Klassen – who insisted the judge and Crown prosecutor only call him Willy – was convicted Monday of impaired driving, refusing to provide a breath sample, and failure to remain at the scene of the La Broquerie crash last August.

He was found not guilty on the charge of obstructing or resisting police. The charges Klassen was found guilty of originally included a cause bodily harm component that would likely result in more severe sentences, but that was removed by the Crown because the passenger refused to cooperate. Fire and paramedic responders were not called in to testify.

Klassen started to walk out of his own trial while Judge Michelle Bright was laying down some ground rules ahead of testimony. Bright last dealt with Klassen in May after he filed notices of motions using footprints as identification, so was prepared for his insistence that the provincial court had no jurisdiction over him.

“OK, here’s the thing Willy. If you don’t want to have your trial proceed while you’re sitting here at counsel table, then the court is left really with no other choice other than to issue a warrant for your arrest and have you taken into custody,” said Bright.

Klassen’s “representative” in flip flops, shorts and a hoody started to interject from the gallery. He did not have legal status to practise law in Manitoba, and Klassen was representing himself.

“Sir, I am not prepared to hear from you. And if I have to ask you one more time not to address the court, you will leave the room,” said Bright.

Leeway was given as he whispered to Klassen during the trial, but for the most part things went smoothly for the rest of the day until the judge’s decision around 5:30 p.m.

Two Steinbach RCMP officers and a tow truck driver from La Broquerie testified in court.

The 21-year-old tow truck driver was the first to speak with Klassen around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 24. He was woken up in his Des Pignons townhouse apartment by a neighbour who informed him someone had just crashed into the back of the parked Steinbach Towing truck he drove home after work.

He described the Toyota car being wedged under the flatbed, which went through the windshield. He found Klassen trying to pull the passenger out of the side window, while a female was in the backseat.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer Neufeld asked him how he knew Klassen was the driver.

“Because he had confessed that he was the driver, and that he had hit my tow truck. He had apologized,” said the t0w truck driver.

The smell of alcohol emanated from Klassen, who told the tow truck driver his name was Billy.

“I said K Billy, what’s going on? Then he said, ‘I was driving, I didn’t see your tow truck and I hit it, I’m sorry.’

“I asked him after have you had anything to drink … ‘Yes, I’ve had a few drinks,’” testified the tow truck driver.

He tried to keep Klassen at the scene while they waited 20 to 25 minutes for first responders to arrive. But once the firetruck lights approached, Klassen decided he was not sticking around.

“He just kept saying no, no I got to go home, I got to go home,” said the witness.

“I told him to stay and he just kept walking. He told me ‘don’t touch me.’ So I didn’t.”

Police arrived shortly after firefighters and paramedics. By then a crowd had gathered to check the scene and Klassen was gone.

The witness told police Klassen had headed northeast and was wearing a camouflage jacket, ball cap, blue jeans and white shoes. He explained in cross examination that he had been at many crash scenes and was good at giving descriptions.

“So you were saying that supposedly that I confessed that I had drinks or something?” Klassen asked the witness in court.

“Yep.”

“So… do you believe everything that somebody whose had a drink says to you?” asked Klassen.

“No, not necessarily but you had already showed me other signs that you were drinking.”

Testimony from the two police officers also convinced the judge that Klassen had been drinking, including repeatedly asking for their badge numbers while not seeming to understand that they had already gave him the numbers, glassy eyes, and a stench of alcohol.

Police assessed Klassen after running through backyards and eventually finding him crouched in the bushes near the train tracks. The judge found Klassen not guilty of obstructing police because other than refusing the breathalyzer, he was relatively cooperative after being handcuffed.

Klassen did testify on his own behalf. He repeatedly said that the name Willy Klassen was given to him by his mother for his convenience, but that he did not sign anything to become an “agent” of the state. This to him means the courts do not have jurisdiction over him.

Another unsuccessful argument was his argument that he was not driving because “driving implies there was commerce being done.”

“There was no commerce being done, therefore there was no driving,” Klassen insisted during the Crown’s cross examination.

His attempt to say “no comment” when asked if the police found him in the bushes was quickly rejected by the judge, who pointed out testifying is not the same as being arrested. He also unsuccessfully argued there were no injured parties and he was promised that he could face his accuser.

Police found Toyota keys in Klassen’s pocket, though they did not test to see they were the crashed car’s. The Crown asked if they were.

“They may have been in my pocket at some point, yeah,” replied Klassen.

He admitted to drinking earlier somewhere in Steinbach, and being in the vehicle with a passenger he met at a gravel pit who was not driving.

He explained how the car crashed into the parked tow truck.

“I guess the tow truck was parked where it wasn’t supposed to be parked,” said Klassen.

The judge found Klassen evasive and the witnesses reliable in her decision to convict on three counts. A sentencing date will be scheduled July 26 after Klassen said he will seek letters of support.

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