A judge has found landscaping supervisor Steven Deans not guilty of criminal negligence causing death in the 2023 worksite accident that killed 20-year-old Nicholas Chenier.
Deans, a supervisor at Best Green Hedges, had pleaded not guilty before the judge-only trial, which began in September. His defence
ultimately presented no evidence
.
The defence gambit effectively ended the 10-day trial, during which
Crown prosecutor Anne Fitzpatrick argued
Deans showed a “reckless disregard” that allowed Chenier to die when the hedge trimmer he was using contacted a 16,000-volt power line while he was working a job on Manotick’s Jean Park Road.
The incident took place on May 5, 2023. It is rare that workplace incidents of this nature lead to criminal charges, and the Deans trial has been widely followed.
Before the verdict, Chenier’s mother, Jennifer Chenier, a constant presence in the courtroom throughout the trial, retrieved a collection of talisman-like keepsakes she carries, including a lock of her son’s hair and his photo, and kissed it.
But in an oral decision that took him more than an hour to present on Friday, Ontario Court Justice John MacFarlane ruled the Crown had not met the burden of proof required to find Deans guilty.
Deans, tall and imposing, sat impassively in the front row while many among his supporters wiped away tears.
MacFarlane said Deans was not necessarily aware of the hazards present at the site and said he had heard no evidence indicating it was up to Deans as a supervisor to probe whether his workers would come within the “limit of approach” of a power line — in this case 10 feet or three metres.
“It has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was aware of or was willfully blind to the fact that the high-voltage power line was at or near or within the limit of approach to the top of the hedge,” MacFarlane said. The fact that Deans did not, for example, climb a ladder ahead of the work to assess the situation was not “a marked and substantial departure from the behaviour expected of a reasonable hedge-trimmer at the time.”
The judge noted that the Crown presented no evidence of such a standard within the industry and said, therefore, that a “marked and substantial” departure from a norm, a hallmark of negligence, could not be established. A finding that there had in fact been a “marked and substantial” departure would in effect “be asking this court to, on its own volition, create a standard.”
The case centred on the events of May 5, 2023, at a Manotick residential property. In a text exchange between Chenier and Deans that began at 7:38 a.m. — read out by MacFarlane — Chenier can be seen highlighting the challenges of that day’s job:
“Hey, man, this first job is an absolute beast, gonna be here most of the day. Just a heads-up.”
“Nah, you’ve got this … it will go quicker than you think,” Deans replied.
Chenier was standing on a ladder, cutting back the top of a six-metre hedge, when the trimmer he was operating contacted the power line.
MacFarlane noted that paramedics arrived at 2:45 p.m., and that Chenier’s co-worker, Marc-André Gosselin, testified he never became aware of the high-voltage wire at any point that day.
“I understand that my decision today may be disappointing to some,” MacFarlane said. “But, as noted, my role is limited as a criminal trial judge. I am not to make general findings of all the factors that led to this tragic death … My limited task is and was to determine whether there was evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Steven Deans committed the offence as alleged, and I have found that there was not, and I find him not guilty.”
An audible gasp swept the courtroom when the verdict was read, and women in Jennifer Chenier’s entourage laid their hands on her shoulders as she dabbed her eyes.
After Chenier’s death, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration Training and Skills Development brought charges against Best Green Hedges director Sheldon Bestgreen as well as Deans.
Bestgreen pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the company took all reasonable steps to comply with the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. The company was fined $45,000.
Jennifer Chenier has previously called that fine a slap in the face.
The Ottawa Police Service later charged Deans following an investigation.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Sean McKenny, president of the Ottawa and District Labour Council, began by saying of the verdict:
“You know, it’s disappointing” — and then he briefly succumbed to emotion.
“Look, we had a kid, 20 years old, that went to work and never returned,” McKenny said after regaining his composure. “It’s something that shouldn’t have happened.”
He added: “This was the first time in the City of Ottawa that a criminal-negligence-causing-death charge has been laid. I think it sends a message — a loud message — to employers that they need to smarten up.”
Mark Ertel, one of Deans’ defence lawyers, agreed that courts would likely see more prosecutions of this nature. “It seems like a growth industry,” Ertel told reporters, but added: “Mr. Deans was never going to be proven guilty — he’s not a criminal, never showed wanton or reckless disregard for the life of his friend. It’s contrary to all the evidence.
“The reason why it’s hard to get criminal convictions is we don’t likely brand innocent people criminals just for the sake of appeasing the public,” he went on to say. “This was not a criminal matter. It didn’t belong in the criminal courts.”
Remembering her son as “super charismatic, very funny, very loving and loved by so many people,” Jennifer Chenier said she was disappointed by the decision.
“I know it was a hard case,” she said. “If there was tougher laws and legislations instilled in this type of work, he would still be alive today,” she said, adding a coroner’s inquest into her son’s death was pending. “So I’m going to continue my fight and I’m going to make sure that there’s awareness and new laws.”
With files from Paula Tran
Related
Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.
