Diefenbaker for the
Defence by Garrett Wilson and Kevin Wilson – John George Diefenbaker was a
defence counsel in rural Saskatchewan for over 35 years before he became Prime
Minister of Canada in 1957.
The biography, while covering his life until he became P.M.,
is focused on his trials in the courts of Saskatchewan.
Last year I read the Moonlight
Murder Mystery: An Adventure of the Young John Diefenbaker by Roderick
Benns. I followed up with a post on my personal contacts with Dief the Chief.
(My last post was a review of Garrett Wilson’s legal fictional mystery, Guilty Addictions, and information on
his life.)
After a somewhat mysterious medical discharge from the
Canadian Army in WW I Diefenbaker was able to use a soldier’s exemption to
accelerate his articles so that he became a lawyer at 24.
His first office was in Wakaw which is 85 km down the road
from my home in Melfort. (Readers of the blog will recognize Wakaw as the real
life town featured in the small town Saskatchewan mysteries of Nelson
Brunanski.)
Diefenbaker, while frail in appearance as a young man, had piercing eyes, a
powerful voice and a commanding formal presence that served him well in the
courtroom.
When his legal career began most of the residents of
Saskatchewan, other than First Nations peoples, were immigrants from all the
nations of Europe. Around Wakaw a majority of the newcomers were either Slavic
or French.
Soon in demand Diefenbaker defended cases throughout our
region. It was interesting to read of cases that took place in courthouses in
which I have argued cases, including Melfort where I live.
An early prominent case arose on Christmas Day of 1929 when Antena
Kropa died after being shot in her home in Humboldt. Beside her was the wounded
Alex Wysochan. Her husband, Alex, claimed that a drunk Wysochan had threatened
them. As Alex fled the house through a window to get help he heard 3 shots
fired. Wysochan retained Diefenbaker to defend him. The most obvious defence
was to plead drunkenness. If successful, the defence could not produce an
acquittal but would reduce the conviction from murder to manslaughter.
Diefenbaker, for reasons not clear in the book eschewed the drunkenness defence
and went for an acquittal claiming Kropa had shot his wife and Wysochan. It is
hard to know whether Antena and Wysochan being lovers helped or hurt the
defence. I think Diefenbaker, an aggressive counsel, was overconfident of his
ability to convince a jury, even if the facts for his defence were weak. It
proved a fatal decision for Wysochan. The defence was unsuccessful. Wysochan
was convicted and hung.
The case illustrates when I am grateful, as a lawyer, Canada does not have
the death penalty. The decisions made by a defence counsel in a capital case
can have life and death consequences. I am not sure I could defend someone with
that responsibility upon me. Diefenbaker does not seem to have been excessively
traumatized. He carried on with his legal career.
While immediately a successful lawyer Diefenbaker was an
unsuccessful Conservative Party politician for almost two decades. His
political career was adversely affected by the presence of the Klu Klux Klan.
In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s the Klan had a loud, though fortunately non-violent
presence, in Saskatchewan. While not a member of the Klan, Diefenbaker did not
effectively distance himself from the Klan when it was actively supporting the
Conservative party
Justly famed for his criminal defence work, Diefenbaker also
took on civil cases. When the famed naturalist, Grey Owl, died in northern
Saskatchewan the public learned he was an imposter. Archie Belaney was not
Indian but an English immigreant. Diefenbaker became involved in a court case
over his estate. Belaney had lived a complicated family life. Publicly he had
lived with Anahaero and she had borne them a child, Shirley Dawn. He had also
gone through a marriage to Yvonne Perrier. After death it was determined he had
never divorced his first wife, Angle Belaney. Diefenbaker unsuccessfully sought
to eliminate Angle’s claim on the basis she had been unfaithful after Archie
deserted her. The Court dismissed the argument justly pointing out Archie had left
her, neglected her and their children and lived with other women.
The book is at its best analyzing Diefenbaker’s conduct of
trials. His skill in final arguments drew full courtrooms to hear him. By the
time I graduated from law school in the mid-1970's Diefenbaker had spent a generation
away from the courts of Saskatchewan but he was still highly regarded as a
defence lawyer. (July 29/13)
Bill - What an interesting insight into Diefenbaker's life and mostly, his courtroom history. There are some people who have such a courtroom presence and such skill there that they do draw crowds and it seems that he was one of them. And it must be even more fascinating to you, not just because you are an attorney, but also because those cases were argued in your own back yard as the saying goes. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, Bill. I found the information about the Wysochan case interesting. Also about the presence of the Ku Klux Klan in Canada. I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. I wished I could have heard him argue in court. I did hear speak as a politican. He was a striking political speaker.
ReplyDeleteTracyK: The Klan is not a subject of which Saskatchewan is proud. I am grateful they disappeared from our province by WW II.
ReplyDeleteI have studied the case of Alex Wysochan from all of the primary sources; the police reports and the original transcripts of the Coroners Inquest, the preliminary inquiry and the trial itself and I have written about the case. Antena Kropa's husband was Stanley Kropa and the couple had a three year old son. Alex Wysochan was Antena Kropa;s lover and he was determined to take her from her husband. And, yes, Diefenbaker could have gotten Wysochan's charge reduced to manslaughter because there was adequate testimony to support the fact that he was drunk when he shot Antena Kropa. Stanley Kropa did not shoot his wife, Alex Wysochan did. Wysochan then turned the gun on himself, wounding himself superficially. He botched his own suicide because he was drunk and he passed out while trying to reload. Read the documents. All of this is in there. This is not my interpretation, these are the facts contained in the documents from the original sources mentioned.
ReplyDeleteStephen: Diefenbaker, as stated in my post, tried to prove Stanley shot his wife and was unsuccessful. That the defence failed is not surprising. It was an implausible defence. The evidence you referred to in your comment was and still is more convincing.
DeleteCorrection Alex Wysochan did not kill Antenna Kropa, her husband Stanley admitted to the murder on his deathbed, in Humboldt in the late 1930s. the previous researcher was wrong..Dief knew his client was not guilty that is why he refused the drunkenness defense. My father actually knew these people. contact me if you wish. Nick Reifferscheid, 306 672 3897
ReplyDelete