An admitted crack cocaine user testified he can’t remember stealing two cars and smashing into an Aldersyde convenience store and two other vehicles in a dangerous driving spree almost two years ago.
James Robert Hicks is facing 15 charges in relation to two stolen cars and multiple crashes that began in Calgary and ended in the Foothills. Hicks was arrested June 19, 2014 after a chase by Okotoks and High River police.
Hicks’ trial got underway in November, but was delayed on the last day of the trial when the accused man’s lawyer, Jack Kelly, requested he be excused from the case. He would have been Hicks’ fourth lawyer. Kelly later agreed to continue representing Hicks and the Crown wrapped up its case Dec. 11.
The trial resumed on Feb. 3 and Hicks was the only witness for the defence. He testified he doesn’t clearly remember the days leading up to June 19 and only remembers part of what happened on the day he was arrested.
Hicks said he has no recollection of waking up that morning or if he had smoked crack or drank the night before.
Hicks testified on Feb. 3 he doesn’t recall getting into a car accident at Deerfoot Trail and Memorial Drive in Calgary in his own vehicle. He also said he can’t remember taking the SUV of a passerby who stopped to help. He also has no recollection of smashing into the Aldersyde Petro Canada convenience store or hitting two vehicles.
His memory returned when he woke up in a strange vehicle on the side of an unfamiliar road following the last crash, Hicks said. He had multiple injuries including a bloody head wound and a golf-ball sized hole in his arm.
“I remember waking up and opening my eyes and having double vision,” Hicks testified. “I remember walking around this vehicle and I was looking for my car and it wasn’t there.”
Hicks said he spotted what he believed was his vehicle, but was actually the vehicle of someone who had stopped to help.
Hicks said he was so exhausted he fell into the vehicle and tried to regain his strength. He then saw an RCMP officer outside the door with his gun pointed at him.
“I couldn’t hear anything, but I could see his lips were moving,” Hicks said of the officer. “It looked like he was yelling.”
Hicks said he put his hands up, with a flashlight in his right hand. Other witnesses testified he was holding a knife, but Hicks described a camo-green five-inch flashlight he said he found in the stolen SUV when he woke up. Police found a knife in the car Hicks was driving when he was arrested.
Hicks denied owning or brandishing a knife.
He said he dropped the flashlight between the seat and the centre console of the car when he saw the RCMP officer looking at it. When the officer lowered his weapon, Hicks testified that he slammed the car door shut, put the car into drive and took off.
Sawa questioned why Hicks left the scene of the accident and led police on a chase, evading two spike belts and eventually running off the road.
“I didn’t know where I was,” Hicks said. “I was lost.”
Judge Pat McIlhargey will deliver his verdict March 22 in Okotoks Provincial court.
