Family of ex-library worker convicted in Chicago shooting appeals decision to block him from coming home for Christmas
Douglas Gary Freeman says he should be allowed into Canada on compassionate grounds despite conviction for shooting Chicago cop 45 years ago.
Douglas Gary Freeman was sentenced then to 30 days in jail, two
years’ probation and ordered to pay $250,000 to a charity that supports
the families of police officers killed in the line of duty.
Once his time was served and his fine paid, he found he could not
re-enter Canada. His family is appealing, arguing he should be allowed
to rejoin them for Christmas.
The family of Douglas Gary Freeman was scheduled to be in a Toronto hearing room on Tuesday, arguing that the former Toronto librarian’s assistant should be allowed to come home immediately to spend Christmas with his family.
Freeman, 65, has been barred from Canada since he pleaded guilty in February 2008 to one count of aggravated battery for a shooting incident 45 years ago, when he said he was defending himself from a Chicago police officer in a racially charged attack.
“I want to come home
to my family,” Freeman, a grandfather, said via email from Washington.
“We want to have a family Christmas this year.”
Freeman’s lawyer Barbara Jackman has argued that he should be allowed into Canada immediately on humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds to be with his family in the GTA.
Freeman said via email
that the government has told his family that if he was granted a
temporary residence permit (TRP) to be with his family, he would never
leave.
“H&C factors are that my wife and children, i.e., my whole family is in Canada,” Freeman said via email. “But the government says I cannot be granted a TRP because my whole family is in Canada and if they granted me a TRP, I would never leave.”
“So because H&C factors exist, I can’t have a TRP. Is that nuts?”
Freeman changed his name and fled to Canada after he wounded officer Terrence Knox with three gunshots in 1969.
Knox, who suffered permanent injuries to an arm, died in 2011 at age 63.
Freeman said he shot
Knox after Knox struck him from behind, pointed a loaded gun to his
head, and shouted a racial slur while threatening to blow his head off.
Freeman said he has not carried a gun since leaving Chicago. He avoided any brushes with the law as he settled into life in Canada, marrying and raising four children while working at the Toronto Reference Library.
When his story leaked, he was extradited to the U.S. and pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery.
He was sentenced then
to 30 days in jail, two years’ probation and ordered to pay $250,000 to a
charity that supports the families of police officers killed in the
line of duty.
Once his time was served and his fine paid, he found he could not re-enter Canada.
Federal Court Justice Anne Mactavish ruled in October 2013 that the federal government acted in bad faith in barring Freeman from Canada after labelling him a terrorist and linking him to the now-defunct Black Panther party.
Federal officials had argued that top-secret evidence not shown to him tied him to the Black Panthers.
“I have determined
that Mr. Freeman was unfairly treated in this process in several
respects,” Mactavish wrote. The judge dismissed claims he was a security
threat. “No meaningful reasons were provided to explain the rationale
for finding Mr. Freeman to be inadmissible to Canada on security
grounds.”
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