Prohibited driver Matthew Greene sent to jail

Source: Kingston Whig Standard

ONTARIO - A 27-year-old Kingston man, widely known among Kingston Police to be a prohibited driver, has been sentenced to 12 months in jail, on top of 194 days he'd already spent in pretrial custody, because he couldn't resist tooling around on a lime green motorcycle.

Matthew G. Greene pleaded guilty in Kingston's Ontario Court of Justice to driving while disqualified and dangerous driving; possession of 101.6 grams of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking; illegal possession of a prohibited weapon -- brass knuckles -- and possession of a prohibited weapon in violation of a 10-year and two lifetime weapons prohibitions previously imposed on him by the courts.

Greene initially pleaded not guilty to all charges and only changed his pleas to the driving offences at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing in front of visiting Justice Stephen Hunter, after learning the judge was going to commit him to trial in Superior Court.

Before doing that, however, Hunter asked Greene's defence team -- lawyers Matt Hodgson and Dave Sinnett -- if they wanted him to conduct what he termed an "exit poll" before he became functus. What he was offering, it turned out, was one last chance to meet with him in chambers and broker a deal for a plea.

Greene's drug and weapons charges, which are related, had already been sent to the Superior Court some time ago, following a preliminary hearing in front of a different judge.

After the lawyers showed interest in trying to reach a resolution on the driving offences, however, Hunter urged that Greene's other charges be retrieved from Superior Court and placed before him, as well. He told the lawyers that the Superior Court wasn't seized of the matters since Greene hadn't yet answered the charges there.

Later, when the deal had been struck, Hunter adopted the evidence he'd heard during Greene's preliminary hearing as the evidence on his guilty pleas.

The judge was told that Greene originally attracted the attention of patrol Const. Neil Mandigo on the evening of May 21, while Mandigo was patrolling in his cruiser on Compton Street.

A lime green motorcycle left the parking lot of some high-rise apartments as he was passing, the officer testified, and caught his eye because of its colour and the relative novelty of seeing a motorcycle in the area.

Mandigo told Hunter he recognized Greene immediately, even though he was wearing a helmet with a visor, because, "I know Matt Greene." They attended the same schools, Mandigo explained, and he later worked as a special court constable before becoming a police officer.

Greene, who has a lengthy criminal record, has made frequent court appearances over the years and Mandigo was aware that Greene wasn't supposed to be driving. He told the judge that he turned his cruiser around to follow Greene east along Compton and then north on Wilson Street, where Greene "just rolled through the stop sign."

At that point, he told Hunter, Green was travelling at a low speed -- "it wasn't excessive" -- but after Greene ran the stop sign, Mandigo said he activated his top lights and siren in an attempt to pull Greene over before he reached Conacher Drive.

Instead of stopping, though, Mandigo said Green accelerated to approximately 50 km-h, turned right on Conacher, ran a second stop sign and accelerate to about 70 km-h.

Mandigo recalled seeing Greene turn to look back over his shoulder once toward the cruiser, and said he again saw his face clearly.

Greene then turned the motorcycle onto Abbeydale Court, which Mandigo described as "a little dead-end street." It was shortly after 6:30 p. m. and by then, Greene had dropped down to about 50 km-h again, according to the officer, but as he followed the motorcycle onto the cul-de-sac, Mandigo said he observed kids playing in the street and "I slowed right down and turned my lights off." Greene kept going, eluding the cruiser and its driver by entering a footpath at the end of the street. Mandigo told the court that the walkway eventually leads to Rideau Heights Public School.

Assistant Crown attorney Alexander Scott asked Mandigo if the foot path was suitable for motorized vehicles such as motorcycles and Mandigo told him "not at all." That particular path, he explained, is well used by pedestrians, including children, travelling back and forth between the the school property and the rest of the neighbourhood.

Greene's escape was short-lived, however. Federal Crown prosecutor David Crowe told the court that Kingston Police officers turned up on Compton Street the following day with a warrant for his arrest and very quickly found him.

Before placing him in a waiting cruiser, he told Hunter that police searched Greene and found he was carrying brass knuckles, $255 in cash and, in the pocket of his sweater, a plastic bag containing 101.6 grams of speed.

Defence lawyer Matt Hodgson told the judge that he and the two Crown prosecutors involved in the case were jointly recommending the 12-month jail sentence but he disclosed a wide gap between his recommendation on a new driving prohibition and that of provincial Crown prosecutor Alexander Scott. Hodgson suggested a three-year ban, observing that his client is anticipating becoming a father very soon and predicting that the Ministry of Transportation will likely sanction him severely on its own.

Scott asked for a lifetime order, however, observing that Greene's "record is horrendous with driving related offences." Greene also has at least one prior conviction for driving while prohibited.

In the end, however, the decision fell to Hunter and he imposed a five-year driving prohibition and another lifetime weapons ban.