WATCH ABOVE: One name has dominated headlines all week and there is now some new information in the case against notorious crime figure Jimmy Melvin Jr. Global’s Natasha Pace reports.
HALIFAX – More than six years after it’s alleged he fatally shot rival gang member Terry Marriott Jr. in the head, Jimmy Melvin Jr. was finally arrested.
It’s believed the reason police were able to lay charges is because an associate of Melvin’s cut a deal and agreed to testify against him.
Several charges against Derek Thomas MacPhee, related to a break and enter at an Upper Sackville home earlier this year, were withdrawn Monday afternoon. That’s the same time Melvin was due in court to face murder charges.
Luke Craggs, a Halifax-area lawyer, says charges aren’t usually dropped against a criminal unless their involvement in the crime is minimal. In this case, it would be MacPhee’s involvement in the break and enter.
“In cases where you have organized crime groups and the only witnesses are going be other persons … in the bubble of an organized crime group, usually making a deal with someone who is involved in criminal activity is the last resort the police will use,” Craggs said.
It’s unusual for the name of a Crown witness to be made public before a trial — something that’s sparked concern.
READ MORE: Jimmy Melvin Jr. makes first court appearance
Wayne MacKay, a professor of law at Dalhousie University wonders if there is a threat to the person who made the deal — in this case, MacPhee — now that his identity is out there.
Craggs says the safety of any witness would be included in an immunity agreement.
“They would be given immunity from their own charges, which could mean having charges dropped. It could mean they will be paid a sum of money, and most importantly and most commonly, a main feature of an immunity agreement would be witness protection,” Craggs said.
“It’s recognized if they are up to the eyeballs in organized crime, then there is the potential for real danger to them if they are cooperating with the authorities and testifying against other organized crime figures.”
MacKay says although some may feel it’s unfair to victims of crime to make a deal with a criminal, it does happen in order for police to lay charges against valuable targets.
“It’s a trade-off I guess,” MacKay said. “We have sort of an imperfect system of justice in the sense that ideally anyone who commits an offence would be held accountable and that would be the end of that, but in practical terms, trade-offs are made sometimes.”
Even with a witness, Melvin’s fate isn’t sealed. A jury still has to hear how and why Marriott was murdered at a Harrietsfield home in 2009, and believe it.
“This is by no means the end of the process. It’s the beginning of the process. The end of the process is when he sits in the witness box, takes an oath and tells his story,” Craggs said.
As for Melvin, he’ll be staying behind bars until his next court appearance on the first-degree murder charge in September.
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