The Keith Crane Case

PART TWO: The Struggle in the Courts

Questions for Discussion

2.1. Investigations and Hearings

1. What would Leonard Harvey use in deciding whether or not to hold a hearing?
2. Why did Keith Crane feel good that Bob Godfrey was on the case?
3. In what important way is a hearing different from a trial?
4. Who is the "judge" in a Public Complaints Commission hearing?
5. What three Department of Justice matters was Keith no part of?

2.2 A Criminal Trial

1. How highly was Vincent Cormier rated by his boss?
2. Why was there a female warder on duty that night?
3. Why was the matron's testimony so important to Keith?
4. What reason did the judge give for acquitting Cormier?

2.3. The Public Complaints Hearing

1. How did lawyer Norm O'Brien seem to agree with Keith Crane?
2. Why did penitentiary warders appear at a hearing into the behaviour of police officers?
3. How did Constable Grimes portray Keith on the night he was arrested?
4. What do we learn about Carol Ann Grimes from the way she answered Norm O'Brien's question?

2.4. Results and Outcomes

1. How many issues were considered by the Complaints Commission hearing? Which ones were decided in Keith's favour?
2. Did Constables Grimes and Skaggins accept the adjudicator's decision? What did they do?
3. What major difference between a trial and a hearing did Carol Ann Grimes mention in her letter to the editor?
4. How did Keith's case change the Newfoundland Human Rights Code?

2.5. Epilogue

1. What was Keith's reaction to seeing Phyllis Overton?
2. What was Keith's most painful memory of Cormier's trial.
3. What do you believe actually happened to Keith on the night of his arrest and in the lockup the morning after?