Gary Edwin Mattson never had a chance of growing up to be a well-socialized member of society because his parents essentially abandoned him in his formative years, defence lawyer Naeem Rauf told Mattson's dangerous offender hearing Tuesday.
The Crown is seeking dangerous offender status for Mattson's violent assault on St. Albert resident and Edmonton Transit bus driver Tom Bregg, to which Mattson has pleaded guilty. If successful, the Crown could ask for Mattson to be jailed indefinitely.
In the second day of what will total four days of closing arguments, Rauf spent Tuesday afternoon dissecting every component of the Crown's case as it relates to Mattson's history at the Edmonton Remand Centre and with the child welfare system.
Rauf cautioned Judge Harry Bridges not to place too much weight on the heavily redacted welfare documents and spotty memories of former caseworkers and teachers who testified earlier on the Crown's behalf.
But Rauf did emphasize that a childhood like Mattson's effectively ruined any chances Mattson had to grow up into a stable adult. He described a childhood that saw his father kicked out of the home and subsequently lose interest in seeing Mattson, while his alcoholic mother entered into relationships with abusive men that led to his placement in foster care.
"What chance on earth does a child have living in an environment like that?" Rauf asked out loud.
Child welfare agents became concerned with Mattson at the age of seven, after his father had been kicked out for allegedly sexually assaulting an extended family member. According to testimony already heard, workers and teachers were concerned about possible depression, acting out, the possibility Mattson had been sexually assaulted and an incident in which he held another child's head underwater during a class swimming trip.
Rauf reminded Bridges that the teacher who witnessed the swimming incident and testified was unable to recall the specifics of the event.
"So an incident 18 years ago, with no suggestion the child needed CPR … so that is brought back to designate him a dangerous offender," Rauf scoffed.
Remand centre
After vowing to leave "no stone unturned" in Mattson's defence, Rauf also plunged into the litany of complaints about Mattson's numerous stints at the Edmonton Remand Centre the Crown had resurrected for the hearing. From trying to assault inmates to "cheeking" or trying to hide or refuse to take prescribed medication, Rauf exhaustively argued each incident was proof of what Mattson hadn't done instead of what he did.
On three occasions where Mattson punched or tried to punch other inmates, Rauf reminded the court the witnesses stated Mattson quickly complied with guards' orders after he had been caught. In another incident where guards used pepper spray to break up a "consensual fight" between Mattson and his cellmate, Rauf noted his client quickly complied with the guards' instructions.
"Despite supposed animosity to people in uniform," Rauf said, drawing on a psychologist's report that concluded Mattson has a problem with authority, "after he was pepper-sprayed, there was no aggression towards the guards."
In every instance at the remand centre for which Mattson faced a disciplinary hearing, he waived his right to a lawyer and pleaded guilty, effectively taking responsibility for his actions, Rauf said.
"His criminal record [from the remand centre] is as far removed from his assault on Mr. Bregg as the Edmonton Oilers are from the days of Gretzky."
The defence is expected to wrap up its case Thursday morning.
