WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown is standing by his position that he did nothing wrong prior to an altercation in Arizona earlier this year that triggered a complaint to the Canadian Judicial Council.
A lawyer for Brown said Tuesday the justice would have no additional response to a police report that alleges he engaged in the "unwanted touching" of a female guest during a Jan. 28 encounter at a Scottsdale resort lounge.
"Justice Brown has nothing to add to his statement of March 10," Alexandra Heine said in a statement. "The evidence provided to the Canadian Judicial Council confirms his account of the incident."
Police were summoned to the high-end resort by Jon Crump, a Marine Corps veteran from Philadelphia, who accused Brown of being intoxicated and repeatedly hitting on Crump's female companions while at the bar in the hotel.
One of those companions told police Brown kissed her on the cheek "once or twice," placed his hand on the small of her back and touched her on the leg.
The police report said the woman denied being touched in a "sexual way" but answered "yes" when the officer asked if Brown's alleged behaviour constituted "unwanted touching."
Brown's original statement Friday included his version of events and described Crump's version as "demonstrably false," but did not specifically address the woman's allegations, which had not yet been included in media reports about the encounter.
Police interviews with all three complainants, but not Brown himself, were captured in newly released footage from the investigating officer's body-worn camera.
"What I'm getting at is, did any of it feel — was any of it, like, unwanted?" the officer asked the woman at one point. "Oh, it was definitely unwanted," she replied.
That was the point at which the group decided to leave the bar and return to their rooms — followed, allegedly, by Brown, despite Crump's repeated efforts to get him to leave them alone.
"He tried getting around me to the girls and I punched him a couple times," Crump tells the officer on the video. "He was gripping on to my shirt, trying to get to the girls. That was pretty much it. He didn't give up much of a fight."
Moments later, Crump — the collar of his shirt torn open — grows belligerent, arguing with and swearing at the officer who appears to be struggling to understand why the man who threw the punches was the one to call police.
Repeatedly, Crump's girlfriend, who can be seen in the background sitting in the hotel lobby, urges him to be quiet before confronting him directly, even putting her hand over his mouth.
"You're about two seconds away from getting arrested for disorderly conduct," the officer says to Crump at one point.
Brown, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2015 by then-prime minister Stephen Harper, has been on leave from the court since Feb. 1 pending the outcome of the council's ongoing investigation.
He was taking part in an awards ceremony and banquet at the resort ahead of the encounter, which occurred in the hotel lounge later that same night.
The police report said it was at the invitation of one of the women that Brown joined their group and spent a portion of the evening with them. It was during that period the "unwanted touching" allegedly occurred.
In the video, the woman tells the officer that she invited Brown to join them because she noticed him in the bar earlier, wearing a tuxedo.
"I thought he was part of a wedding," she said. "That's why I invited him over because I thought he was just like, yeah, we're all hanging out, you know?"
The police report described Crump as "argumentative, hostile (and) antagonistic" during his interview with the officer, who wrote he believed that Crump was "under the influence of alcohol."
It also said the officer was unable to reach Brown to interview him, but he concluded Crump's "use of force appeared reasonable and necessary, and no crime was determined." There were no arrests.
Neither Crump nor other members of the group identified in the media report responded to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Details of the altercation have emerged as Parliament considers new legislation designed to change the process by which the council handles allegations against judges.
If passed, Bill C-9 would create a new process for reviewing allegations of misconduct that are not serious enough to warrant a judge's removal.
The bill, which is currently being considered by the Senate, would also clarify the circumstances under which a judge can be removed, and change the way the council reports its recommendations to the federal justice minister.
The Canadian Judicial Council has authority over federally appointed judges and it receives, reviews and deals with complaints. It works at arm's length from the executive and legislative branches of government.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2023.
James McCarten, The Canadian Press
