Military withdraws final charge against Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan
Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan makes his way to a court martial proceedings, Thursday, September 28, 2023 in Gatineau. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan wiped away tears this morning as military prosecutors asked the judge in his court martial to withdraw the case against him.
Whelan had pleaded not guilty to one count of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline for changing a performance report in 2011.
The military alleged he gave the complainant in the case, a woman who was under his command at the time, a better score to prevent her from telling senior commanders about flirtatious emails Whelan had sent her before they worked together.
Prosecutors dropped a different charge at the beginning of the court martial last week related to what the military called an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.
This morning, prosecutors asked the military judge, Cmdr. Martin Pelletier, to withdraw the remaining charge, based on "an assessment of the evidence."
Pelletier ruled on Friday that the emails at the centre of the case could not be admitted as evidence for the prosecution.
Prosecutors declined an interview request this morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2023.
Correction
EDITOR'S NOTE: Canadian Military Prosecution Service lawyer Major Max Reede responded to the story after publication. Here is his statement.
"As prosecutors, we have a continuous obligation to assess reasonable prospect of conviction throughout a given case.
"Assessments prior to trial are based on the information obtained through investigations. At times, the evidence we hear in court does not match what we anticipate it will be based on the information provided in the investigation.
"In this case, after an assessment of the evidence that was heard and admitted at trial, we concluded that we no longer had a reasonable prospect of proving beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the offence that was required in order to make out the remaining charge."
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