Jeff Smiley domestic assault probe initiated by Fredericton police chief

Day one of Const. Jeff Smiley's arbitration hearing before the New Brunswick Police Commission heard that it was Police Chief Leanne Fitch who initiated the domestic assault investigation against Smiley, and not his common-law wife, Kim Burnett.

Smiley has been suspended with pay since the incident in Feb. 2014.

Burnett attended the arbitration hearing with him on Monday.

Cpl. Ross Chandler testified he received telephone calls from Fitch, who told him her brother-in-law had given her information about a "domestic" situation involving Smiley and his common-law wife Kim Burnett.

Fitch requested that officers go check out their home. 

Burnett did not call to complain and defence lawyer T.J. Burke pointed out there was no allegation of any assaultive behaviour taking place on the the night of Feb. 26.

The assault charge against Smiley was later dropped by the Crown because of a jurisdictional issue, as the alleged assaults described in a subsequent interview happened in Nova Scotia, not New Brunswick.

Chandler testified Burnett said instances of assault by Smiley happened around 20 times.

He noted a criminal domestic call needs to involve an application of force, and not only yelling.

'No pressure from the chief'

The RCMP eventually took over the file and decided not to proceed with prosecuting any of the 20 alleged incidents of assault, noted Burke in his cross-examination of Chandler.

Chandler said he "felt no pressure from the chief."

"Aside from the fact that it was one of our co-workers and a police officer, [there was no pressure].

"In this case, [Burnett] told me the story, and I believed what she was saying. There were no marks on her."

Chandler testified that at the time, Smiley was going through a divorce, had lost his house, had to declare bankruptcy and was complaining he wasn't getting access to his children."

"I was worried that there was a lot of anger there," said Chandler.

Const. Dwight Doyle had testified earlier Monday he was concerned Smiley may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when Smiley's common-law wife showed up at the Fredericton Police station and complained about being assaulted by Smiley.

Doyle testified he is a friend of Smiley's and has been since they were involved in a river rescue in January 2012, when an elderly woman's car left the road and slid into the St. John River.

Smiley was awarded the Star of Courage by the Governor General for his role in the rescue while Doyle and two other officers received the Medal of Bravery.

The arbitration hearing headed by lawyer Cedric Haines was told Burnett eventually showed up at the police station and started talking to Doyle after Fitch had notified officers about the possible assaults.

Concerns about PTSD

Doyle testified that after his conversation with Burnett, he thought the matter was headed toward a domestic assault charge and said he couldn't talk to Burnett any longer because he was friends with Smiley. Doyle said he left her to tell Cpl. Ross Chandler he would have to take over the complaint.

Doyle said he told Ross that Burnett had said Smiley had "grabbed her head."

Doyle testified when it appeared a domestic violence charge would be laid, there were concerns about firearms at Smiley's house because, "based on the amount of stress that Jeff had been under, we were thinking that PTSD might be there."

"I'm certainly not a psychiatrist, or psychologist, but I have it," said Doyle.

Smiley was allowed to turn himself in at the police station. It is routine to remove a person's firearms in domestic assault cases.

Smiley told Doyle his firearms were at his father's house in Nova Scotia and Doyle said he believed him. Smiley did turn his service revolver over to Doyle.

Under cross-examination by Smiley's lawyer, T.J.Burke, Doyle said he never witnessed any assaults by Smiley on his common-law wife and was unaware of any red flags in his behaviour.

I concluded a minor assault had occurred.- Const. Karla Forsythe, Fredericton Police Force

Doyle also testified he knew Burnett was off work due to disability and suffered from anxiety and depression.

Doyle said he doesn't know why he ended up involved with the case given his friendship with Smiley. He said he was overwhelmed that day because "there was a situation on the trail where I almost shot someone." 

Doyle testified that Smiley never disclosed to him that he has PTSD or operational stress injury, but said he had some sort of infection in his lungs because of the river rescue.

Const. Karla Forsythe testified when she interviewed Kim Burnett, "based on the description of her relationship, and what she described what had happened, I concluded a minor assault had occurred."

Forsythe says Burnett told her when she and Smiley had heated arguments, she just wanted to walk away, but Smiley would grab her.

The domestic assault charge in criminal court was dismissed in October 2014 over a jurisdictional issue.

Smiley was also charged with breaching an undertaking to turn over his firearms to authorities.

The arbitration hearing at the Wu Conference Centre is open to the public. It will continue on Tuesday.