Dad tried to revive daughter after methadone overdose
Father tried to revive daughter with shock from lamp cord
Father begged mom to take tot to hospital
Mother of overdosed tot told judge she wanted to plead guilty
Mother's emotional outburst halts Calgary trial on toddler's death
Dead girl's father tells police he loved her like a son
Dad used live wires on dead tot's heart
Father tried to revive daughter with shock from lamp cord
Father begged mom to take tot to hospital
Mother of overdosed tot told judge she wanted to plead guilty
Mother's emotional outburst halts Calgary trial on toddler's death
Dead girl's father tells police he loved her like a son
Dad used live wires on dead tot's heart
- After some time behind bars to sober up, a Calgary dad sat bawling in the prisoner’s box Monday as witnesses told of his desperate attempts to revive his dead daughter.
- Jonathan Mark Hope was tossed into custody by Justice Earl Wilson after showing up drunk for his manslaughter trial.
- Following a four-hour break to sober up Hope was brought into court from cells to commence his trial in the April 29, 2006, death of his 16-month-old daughter, Summer.
- Hope is charged along with his wife, Lisa Guerin, in the methadone overdose death of the girl in their southwest Calgary duplex.
- The couple also face criminal negligence charges for allowing the girl to ingest methadone, or knowing she had ingested it, failing to get prompt medical assistance and allegations they didn’t meet their parental duties.
- Two firefighters testified how they arrived at the Southwood-area residence to find Hope kneeling over his daughter.
- Capt. David Doyle said he and Steven Stewart arrived at the 6 St. S.W. home about 2:03 p.m. on April 30.
- “The person in the house was doing CPR and (artificial respiration) on the child,” Doyle said, of the man he later learned was Hope.
- Doyle said he checked on the toddler’s condition.
- “The child was cold to the touch,” he told Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey.
- “After assessing the child I didn’t think there was any need to begin (resuscitation efforts),” he said.
- “There was no pulse, the child was cold, there was signs of lividity — the child was deceased,” Doyle said, as a puffy-eyed Hope wiped away tears.
- Doyle said he asked how long it had been since Hope had seen his daughter breathing.
- “He said he awakened at nine or 10 and the child was not breathing then,” the firefighter said.
- “I asked him why it took so long (to call) and he said he was having trouble with his phone and once he started artificial respiration he didn’t want to stop.”
- Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Joan Blumer the witness agreed Hope seemed to be guessing about the time.
- He also said Hope was distraught.
- “He was visibly upset,” Doyle said.
- Under questioning by Blumer, Stewart added there were no clocks in view and no one questioned Hope as to whether he knew it was 2 p.m.
- The trial continues on Tuesday.
- As he frantically attempted to revive his dead daughter a Calgary man fashioned a home-made defibrillator from an electrical cord.
- Court heard Jonathan Mark Hope admitted he cut a lamp cord, placed vaseline on his baby girl’s chest and then attempted to shock her back to life.
- Emergency medical technician said when he arrived at Hope’s home he noticed a sliced electrical cord which looked like it had been attached to a lamp.
- Hope told him he had attempted to revive 16-month-old Summer with it.
- The following day Hope also told medical examiner’s office investigator that marks found on the girl’s chest were caused by him placing the lives wires against his daughter.
- Hope said he found Summer not breathing when he awoke around 9 a.m. on April 30, 2006, and attempted to resuscitate her.
- He did not tell anyone when he made his attempt to shock her heart.
- Emergency crews didn’t arrive until around 2 p.m. after a relative of Hope’s called 911.
- Both the father and his wife, Lisa Guerin, are charged with manslaughter in the toddler’s Methadone overdose.
- The couple also faces criminal negligence charges and allegations they failed to meet their parental duties.
- Jonathon had confessed that the marks on the infant's chest were made by him.
- He used a cable from a lamp in the bedroom.
- Meanwhile, a paramedic who arrived to save the child, only to find her dead, said Hope told him he didn’t call for assistance because his cordless phone had died.
- But the paramedic said that Jonathon also told him that he called an aunt to ask for help.
- “I asked him why didn’t he call 911 instead and he said the phone died again”
- He admitted to defence lawyer Joan Blumer he knew any information he received from Hope he would pass on to police.
- Blumer is challenging the admissibility of her client’s comments.
A couple knew their daughter may have accidentally consumed methadone, but did not seek treatment for the toddler girl the night before she died four years ago, court heard Friday.
In a taped interview with child abuse detectives several months after the death, the girl's father, Jonathan Hope, said he received his dose of methadone mixed with orange juice from the downtown clinic on April 29, but spit some of the mixture into his coffee cup, which he then took home with him.
He said he left the cup in the bedroom and closed the door before going to the local gas station to get a compressor to fix the flat tire on their car so his wife could drive to Rocky Mountain House. Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) had told him she had to work a paramedic shift there, but it was later revealed she had gone because she was having an affair with a man, Hope said.
When he came back into the house, he noticed an orange stain on 16-month-old Summer Hope's top and realized what had happened.
The former couple are both charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life in connection with Summer's death.
An autopsy showed the cause of the toddler's death was a lethal amount of methadone.
During the fifth day of proceedings, court watched the taped interview with Hope from Oct. 26, 2006 -- after toxicology tests came back showing Summer's cause of death.
After realizing that Summer may have drunk the methadone mixture, Hope said he asked his wife what happened.
"I said ... why weren't you watching her?' And then I said we need to take her to the hospital," Hope said in the interview.
Guerin said Summer had not swallowed anything and she had rinsed the girl's mouth out.
She also said it wasn't necessary to go to the hospital and shortly after left in the family's only car for Rocky Mountain House.
Several times Hope told Sgt. Robert Edwards -- a detective in the child abuse unit at the time -- that he said they should go to the hospital, both while the couple was still at the house together and later during cellphone calls with Guerin.
"I was begging and pleading with her," he said.
But she said the little girl would be fine and Hope believed her because she told him she had been trained as a paramedic.
"I really feel I should take her (to the hospital), but because she's a medic, I listened to her," he said.
He checked on the little girl a handful of times through the night and she appeared fine. When he awoke on April 30, however, the little girl had stopped breathing.
Hope began doing CPR and artificial breathing but did not call 911, saying his phone was dead.
He also used two live wires from a lamp to try to jump-start his daughter's heart.
"I panicked and for some reason -- this is really stupid -- I thought I could restart her heart using electricity. I was desperate," he said.
Hope noted Guerin was interested in partying and had been known to take drugs, including cocaine.
He added he was the primary caregiver for the couple's two children after Guerin said she was getting tired of staying home with them. She returned to work.
"I didn't like it because she went back to stripping," Hope told the two officers.
In the morning's proceedings, an emotional outburst from Guerin forced court to adjourn briefly while she calmed down.
She was sitting in the prisoner's box as a police officer outlined what he saw in photos of the home and Summer, after she was pronounced dead.
Edwards was about to explain the marks that appeared on the 16-month-old girl's chest when Guerin tried to flee the courtroom.
"I gotta go," she cried out as a sheriff prevented her from going out the door. "No, I have to go."
She ran out of the room crying, forcing the trial to take a recess.
Guerin returned after about five minutes but kept her head in her lap or bowed for most of the morning's testimony.
An emotional outburst from a woman accused in the death of her toddler daughter forced court to adjourn briefly while she calmed down this morning.
Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) was sitting in the prisoner's box as a police officer outlined what he saw in photos of the home and of Summer Hope, after she was pronounced dead inside the residence on April 30, 2006.
Sgt. Robert Edwards, who investigated the case on behalf of the child abuse unit, was about to explain the marks that appeared on the 16-month-old girl's chest when Guerin tried to run from the courtroom.
"I gotta go," she cried out as a sheriff prevented her from going out the door. "No, I have to go."
She ran out of the room crying, forcing the trial to take a recess.
Guerin and her former husband Jonathan Hope are both charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessities of life in connection with the death of Summer.
She died from an overdose of methadone almost four years ago.
Guerin returned after about five minutes but kept her head in her lap or bowed for most of the morning's testimony, including a videotaped interview of Hope months after Summer's death.
- As he frantically attempted to revive his dead daughter a Calgary man fashioned a home-made defibrillator from an electrical cord.
- Court heard Jonathan Mark Hope admitted he cut a lamp cord, placed vaseline on his baby girl’s chest and then attempted to shock her back to life.
- Emergency medical technician said when he arrived at Hope’s home he noticed a sliced electrical cord which looked like it had been attached to a lamp.
- Hope told him he had attempted to revive 16-month-old Summer with it.
- The following day Hope also told medical examiner’s office investigator that marks found on the girl’s chest were caused by him placing the lives wires against his daughter.
- Hope said he found Summer not breathing when he awoke around 9 a.m. on April 30, 2006, and attempted to resuscitate her.
- He did not tell anyone when he made his attempt to shock her heart.
- Emergency crews didn’t arrive until around 2 p.m. after a relative of Hope’s called 911.
- Both the father and his wife, Lisa Guerin, are charged with manslaughter in the toddler’s Methadone overdose.
- The couple also faces criminal negligence charges and allegations they failed to meet their parental duties.
- Jonathon had confessed that the marks on the infant's chest were made by him.
- He used a cable from a lamp in the bedroom.
- Meanwhile, a paramedic who arrived to save the child, only to find her dead, said Hope told him he didn’t call for assistance because his cordless phone had died.
- But the paramedic said that Jonathon also told him that he called an aunt to ask for help.
- “I asked him why didn’t he call 911 instead and he said the phone died again”
- He admitted to defence lawyer Joan Blumer he knew any information he received from Hope he would pass on to police.
- Blumer is challenging the admissibility of her client’s comments.
A couple knew their daughter may have accidentally consumed methadone, but did not seek treatment for the toddler girl the night before she died four years ago, court heard Friday.
In a taped interview with child abuse detectives several months after the death, the girl's father, Jonathan Hope, said he received his dose of methadone mixed with orange juice from the downtown clinic on April 29, but spit some of the mixture into his coffee cup, which he then took home with him.
He said he left the cup in the bedroom and closed the door before going to the local gas station to get a compressor to fix the flat tire on their car so his wife could drive to Rocky Mountain House. Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) had told him she had to work a paramedic shift there, but it was later revealed she had gone because she was having an affair with a man, Hope said.
When he came back into the house, he noticed an orange stain on 16-month-old Summer Hope's top and realized what had happened.
The former couple are both charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life in connection with Summer's death.
An autopsy showed the cause of the toddler's death was a lethal amount of methadone.
During the fifth day of proceedings, court watched the taped interview with Hope from Oct. 26, 2006 -- after toxicology tests came back showing Summer's cause of death.
After realizing that Summer may have drunk the methadone mixture, Hope said he asked his wife what happened.
"I said ... why weren't you watching her?' And then I said we need to take her to the hospital," Hope said in the interview.
Guerin said Summer had not swallowed anything and she had rinsed the girl's mouth out.
She also said it wasn't necessary to go to the hospital and shortly after left in the family's only car for Rocky Mountain House.
Several times Hope told Sgt. Robert Edwards -- a detective in the child abuse unit at the time -- that he said they should go to the hospital, both while the couple was still at the house together and later during cellphone calls with Guerin.
"I was begging and pleading with her," he said.
But she said the little girl would be fine and Hope believed her because she told him she had been trained as a paramedic.
"I really feel I should take her (to the hospital), but because she's a medic, I listened to her," he said.
He checked on the little girl a handful of times through the night and she appeared fine. When he awoke on April 30, however, the little girl had stopped breathing.
Hope began doing CPR and artificial breathing but did not call 911, saying his phone was dead.
He also used two live wires from a lamp to try to jump-start his daughter's heart.
"I panicked and for some reason -- this is really stupid -- I thought I could restart her heart using electricity. I was desperate," he said.
Hope noted Guerin was interested in partying and had been known to take drugs, including cocaine.
He added he was the primary caregiver for the couple's two children after Guerin said she was getting tired of staying home with them. She returned to work.
"I didn't like it because she went back to stripping," Hope told the two officers.
In the morning's proceedings, an emotional outburst from Guerin forced court to adjourn briefly while she calmed down.
She was sitting in the prisoner's box as a police officer outlined what he saw in photos of the home and Summer, after she was pronounced dead.
Edwards was about to explain the marks that appeared on the 16-month-old girl's chest when Guerin tried to flee the courtroom.
"I gotta go," she cried out as a sheriff prevented her from going out the door. "No, I have to go."
She ran out of the room crying, forcing the trial to take a recess.
Guerin returned after about five minutes but kept her head in her lap or bowed for most of the morning's testimony.
An emotional outburst from a woman accused in the death of her toddler daughter forced court to adjourn briefly while she calmed down this morning.
Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) was sitting in the prisoner's box as a police officer outlined what he saw in photos of the home and of Summer Hope, after she was pronounced dead inside the residence on April 30, 2006.
Sgt. Robert Edwards, who investigated the case on behalf of the child abuse unit, was about to explain the marks that appeared on the 16-month-old girl's chest when Guerin tried to run from the courtroom.
"I gotta go," she cried out as a sheriff prevented her from going out the door. "No, I have to go."
She ran out of the room crying, forcing the trial to take a recess.
Guerin and her former husband Jonathan Hope are both charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessities of life in connection with the death of Summer.
She died from an overdose of methadone almost four years ago.
Guerin returned after about five minutes but kept her head in her lap or bowed for most of the morning's testimony, including a videotaped interview of Hope months after Summer's death.
Using bare live wires from a bedroom lamp and some Vaseline, a man accused in the overdose death of his toddler daughter attempted to restart her heart when he realized she wasn't breathing, court heard Tuesday.
After trying to resuscitate the 16-month-old girl with CPR and artificial breathing, Jonathan Hope dismantled a lamp and used wires from it and an alarm clock in an effort to revive the girl, it was revealed during the second day of proceedings against the man and his former common-law wife.
Hope and Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) are both charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life for their daughter. Summer Hope died in April 2006 of a methadone overdose.
At first, the death was not believed to be suspicious, but toxicology tests from the autopsy later revealed the little girl had ingested a fatal amount of the drug.
When Karen Colabella, an investigator from the medical examiner's office, first arrived at the southwest Calgary home on April 30, she took photos of the little girl laying on the bedroom floor. After placing her on the nearby bed for further examination, Colabella noticed marks on her chest and took more photos before continuing with a physical exam, she testified during a voir dire -- a trial within a trial used to determine the admissibility of evidence.
Later, because the death wasn't deemed suspicious, she bundled the child into blankets and put her in her car seat to take back to the office for an autopsy. The next day, Hope called her and explained the marks on the little girl's chest, saying they were from when he cut and applied the cord from an alarm clock, along with Vaseline, to try to revive Summer, Colabella said, appearing via video from Phoenix, Ariz.
Paramedic Ron Werbisky, who responded to the call at Hope's southwest Calgary home, said he noticed a lamp in the bedroom had been dismantled and pulled apart.
"He (Hope) indicated he tried to . . . defibrillate the child with the two bare wires," he said.
Summer was not breathing, had no pulse and was cold to the touch when firefighters and paramedics arrived after 2 p.m., court has heard.
Hope told emergency responders he realized his daughter wasn't breathing at around 9 or 10 a.m. and had been performing artificial respiration and rescue breathing, but did not call 911 because his phone had died.
"He said the child may have gotten into (Guerin's) Tylenol earlier," Werbisky testified.
Hope checked the little girl around midnight and again at 3 a.m. and she was fine, court heard.
Werbisky, two other paramedics and a police officer testified they noticed empty pill containers on top of the TV in the bedroom where the little girl was found. Also on the set was at least one empty bottle of methadone. Paramedics asked if Summer could have gotten into that.
"Mr. Hope said, 'No, it was out of her reach,' " said emergency medical technician Andrea Russell, who went to the house with Werbisky.
After trying to resuscitate the 16-month-old girl with CPR and artificial breathing, Jonathan Hope dismantled a lamp and used wires from it and an alarm clock in an effort to revive the girl, it was revealed during the second day of proceedings against the man and his former common-law wife.
Hope and Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) are both charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life for their daughter. Summer Hope died in April 2006 of a methadone overdose.
At first, the death was not believed to be suspicious, but toxicology tests from the autopsy later revealed the little girl had ingested a fatal amount of the drug.
When Karen Colabella, an investigator from the medical examiner's office, first arrived at the southwest Calgary home on April 30, she took photos of the little girl laying on the bedroom floor. After placing her on the nearby bed for further examination, Colabella noticed marks on her chest and took more photos before continuing with a physical exam, she testified during a voir dire -- a trial within a trial used to determine the admissibility of evidence.
Later, because the death wasn't deemed suspicious, she bundled the child into blankets and put her in her car seat to take back to the office for an autopsy. The next day, Hope called her and explained the marks on the little girl's chest, saying they were from when he cut and applied the cord from an alarm clock, along with Vaseline, to try to revive Summer, Colabella said, appearing via video from Phoenix, Ariz.
Paramedic Ron Werbisky, who responded to the call at Hope's southwest Calgary home, said he noticed a lamp in the bedroom had been dismantled and pulled apart.
"He (Hope) indicated he tried to . . . defibrillate the child with the two bare wires," he said.
Summer was not breathing, had no pulse and was cold to the touch when firefighters and paramedics arrived after 2 p.m., court has heard.
Hope told emergency responders he realized his daughter wasn't breathing at around 9 or 10 a.m. and had been performing artificial respiration and rescue breathing, but did not call 911 because his phone had died.
"He said the child may have gotten into (Guerin's) Tylenol earlier," Werbisky testified.
Hope checked the little girl around midnight and again at 3 a.m. and she was fine, court heard.
Werbisky, two other paramedics and a police officer testified they noticed empty pill containers on top of the TV in the bedroom where the little girl was found. Also on the set was at least one empty bottle of methadone. Paramedics asked if Summer could have gotten into that.
"Mr. Hope said, 'No, it was out of her reach,' " said emergency medical technician Andrea Russell, who went to the house with Werbisky.
A fter showing up drunk to the first day of his trial for the death of his 16-month-old daughter, Jonathan Hope spent the afternoon in the prisoner's box, weeping over testimony about the day the toddler died from an overdose of methadone.
Hope and Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) have both pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life for their daughter, Summer Hope who died in April 2006.
The trial was delayed Monday when the girl's father arrived at court intoxicated, drawing harsh criticism from the judge who revoked the man's bail.
"He has lost his right to walk among us," said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Earl Wilson, who delayed the trial's start by several hours so the accused could sober up.
When the trial began, details emerged of the father's vain efforts to resuscitate his daughter as she lay cold on the floor of the couple's southwest Calgary home. As Hope and Guerin sat in the prisoner's box, Hope's relatives and two firefighters outlined what they saw the day the girl died. Hope cried openly listening to witnesses recount events, while Guerin kept her head down, looking at the floor.
Outside court, prosecutor Ken Mc-Caffrey said the Crown alleges Hope allowed the situation to develop where Summer was able to ingest the drug, while Guerin was aware of what happened and left without seeking help for her child.
During a voir dire (a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of evidence), firefighter David Doyle testified he arrived at the couple's home to find Hope kneeling over a child trying to resuscitate her.
When Doyle tried to see how Summer was doing, he realized there was nothing they would be able to do.
"The child was cold to the touch. There was no pulse," he said.
Doyle told the court he asked Hope how long it had been since he saw Summer breathing. He said Hope told him when he woke up around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m., Summer wasn't breathing at that time.
Doyle said he asked why it took Hope so long to call for help.
"He said he was having trouble with his phone," Doyle said. "Once he started artificial respiration, he didn't want to stop."
A second firefighter with Doyle said when paramedics confirmed to Hope his daughter was dead, he "broke down and started crying."
"He bent down and started hugging her," Steven Stewart said.
Firefighters and paramedics responded to a 911 call that had been made by Hope's relative, Corrine Vooys, who was called to the home by her cousin, Hope's mother, in Edmonton. She and her husband, Cornelis Vooys, arrived to find Hope and Guerin's two-year-old son crying and Hope in a bedroom kneeling over. Corrine called 911 and spoke to a dispatcher for a couple of minutes before the cordless phone died. She also tried to resuscitate the little girl.
Corrine said she heard wheezing and, at first, assumed it was the child's laboured breathing. "The air coming out was just what Jonathan or I had put into her," she told the court. "She was not breathing."
Under cross-examination by Hope's lawyer Joan Blumer, Corrine agreed that Hope's mental function had diminished following a motorcycle accident some years ago.
Cornelis also said Hope was not always clear in his thinking.
Almost four years have passed since Summer died. Initially, it was believed she was a victim of sudden infant death syndrome. Months later, results from toxicology tests showed she had ingested methadone.
A fter her arrest in B.C. last year on a manslaughter warrant, a Calgary mother accused in the overdose death of her toddler daughter told a judge she wanted to plead guilty and move on, court heard Thursday.
In a brief appearance in June 2009, Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) asked to address the provincial court in Nanaimo after being advised she had been arrested on a warrant from Calgary on charges of manslaughter.
"It's been four years. I'm sick and tired of it. I just want to plead guilty and get it over with," Guerin told the court last year.
Judge Allan Gould said she "shouldn't jump in and plead guilty to manslaughter," advising her he could stand the matter down to give Guerin a chance to talk to duty counsel before appearing again the next day.
"Yeah, I don't want a bail hearing," she later said. "I just want it to be over and done with."
Court heard a recording of Guerin's appearance in Nanaimo on the fourth day of proceedings against her and her former common-law husband, Jonathan Hope. The two are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life to their daughter, 16-month-old Summer Hope.
Summer died in April 2006 after ingesting a lethal dose of methadone.
A warrant was issued for Guerin's arrest on the manslaughter charge after she failed to appear for a preliminary hearing in Calgary last year.
During a voir dire -- a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of evidence -- in front of Court of Queen's Bench Justice Earl Wilson, Const. Simon Bentley of the Nanaimo RCMP detachment testified he also heard Guerin say she wanted to plead guilty.
Bentley had arrested Guerin at a home in Nanaimo on June 23, 2009, after the RCMP detachment received information from the Calgary Police Service about the manslaughter warrant and information that she was in their city.
He found Guerin sitting on a bed in the back bedroom of the home owned by her boyfriend's mother.
Guerin told police her name was Sandy, but Bentley detected an accent -- Guerin is of British descent -- and said he believed she was Guerin and was under arrest on a warrant out of Calgary for manslaughter.
He read her her rights and Guerin said she wanted to contact a lawyer.
"They don't want me in Alberta. I want to deal with this in B.C.," Bentley testified Guerin told him shortly after the arrest.
Later that day, during the two-minute drive between the detachment and the courthouse, Guerin was talking to herself and Bentley heard her say, "I just want to plead guilty."
Bentley testified he then told her she was going in front of a judge and she would have the opportunity to say something.
Guerin's lawyer, Adriano Iovinelli, asked Bentley -- who appeared on video from the courthouse in Nanaimo -- if he was aware Guerin was wanted on several warrants at the time of her arrest, including those for failure to comply, fraud, obstruction and failure to appear for court.
"I understood Calgary was looking for her on other matters, yes," Bentley said.
Const. Michael Carey went to the house with Bentley as backup and testified that Guerin appeared sober and aware of why she was being arrested.
She appeared to understand her charter rights and said she wished to speak to counsel, he said, also appearing via video.
At the detachment, Bentley set up a phone call with Guerin's lawyer in Calgary. He was in court, but she spoke with his assistant and was advised to call back in 30 minutes. She was unable to speak to her lawyer during the second phone call.
She was then taken to the courthouse for her appearance.
Guerin was later returned to Calgary.
Sitting in the back of a police cruiser, the father of a toddler who died of a drug overdose told a Calgary police officer his daughter was the best thing to happen in his life, court heard Wednesday.
"I loved her like a son. I wanted another son," Jonathan Hope told the officer sitting in the front seat of the cruiser. "I know you shouldn't have a favourite, but she was the best thing to happen to me."
Hope had been sitting in the back of the patrol car -- but was not under arrest at the time, court heard -- as police and the medical examiner were inside the southwest home he shared with his common-law wife, trying to piece together the events surrounding the death of 16-month-old Summer Hope on April 30, 2006.
Initially, it was believed the child was a victim of sudden infant death syndrome after she failed to wake up that morning. Hope told officers he tried for several hours to resuscitate her using CPR and artificial respiration. Later, toxicology results showed Summer had ingested a fatal dose of methadone.
Both Hope and the girl's mother, Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope), are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life for the girl.
Primary investigator Det. Theresa Garagan told the court there were some indications that something wasn't right at the house that day, noting a generally healthy child had passed away, that there was a knife on the bed in the master bedroom and Hope was behaving in a way that was unusual for someone who had just lost a child.
"He didn't seem as upset as I would expect. He seemed not emotional at the scene," Garagan said.
Members of the Child at Risk Response Team were called to investigate over concerns for the safety of the couple's two-year-old son.
In a taped interview between the father and Const. Melissa Wheatley, a social worker with child and family services, Hope said he didn't believe the coroner when she told him Summer had been dead for some time that day.
"A few times I stopped (CPR) and Summer was totally breathing on her own," he said, mimicking the sound of shallow breaths.
He appeared distraught in the video as he asked how this could have happened to his daughter.
"I asked God to take me instead," he said. "I never wanted a daughter, but then she came and she was just so special."
In the prisoner's box, seated next to Guerin, Hope cried as he listened to himself speak on the video.
He said he had been taking care of the two children over the past few months -- spending all day with them -- while Guerin worked.
On April 29, Guerin was mad when he got home from receiving his methadone dose because she needed to get to work in Rocky Mountain House -- a two-hour drive away.
In the video interview, Hope said Guerin was a paramedic trained in mine rescues, but that she also worked as an exotic dancer at the French Maid in Calgary.
Before she left, she told Hope that Summer had got into her prescription medication, but she had made sure the girl spit it out and then rinsed out her mouth.
Hope checked on Summer at midnight and 2 a.m. and she was still breathing, he said during the interview.
The next day, when he woke up, he realized she wasn't breathing. He began CPR.
He didn't call 911 because the cordless phone was dead, he said.
Hope and Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) have both pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life for their daughter, Summer Hope who died in April 2006.
The trial was delayed Monday when the girl's father arrived at court intoxicated, drawing harsh criticism from the judge who revoked the man's bail.
"He has lost his right to walk among us," said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Earl Wilson, who delayed the trial's start by several hours so the accused could sober up.
When the trial began, details emerged of the father's vain efforts to resuscitate his daughter as she lay cold on the floor of the couple's southwest Calgary home. As Hope and Guerin sat in the prisoner's box, Hope's relatives and two firefighters outlined what they saw the day the girl died. Hope cried openly listening to witnesses recount events, while Guerin kept her head down, looking at the floor.
Outside court, prosecutor Ken Mc-Caffrey said the Crown alleges Hope allowed the situation to develop where Summer was able to ingest the drug, while Guerin was aware of what happened and left without seeking help for her child.
During a voir dire (a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of evidence), firefighter David Doyle testified he arrived at the couple's home to find Hope kneeling over a child trying to resuscitate her.
When Doyle tried to see how Summer was doing, he realized there was nothing they would be able to do.
"The child was cold to the touch. There was no pulse," he said.
Doyle told the court he asked Hope how long it had been since he saw Summer breathing. He said Hope told him when he woke up around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m., Summer wasn't breathing at that time.
Doyle said he asked why it took Hope so long to call for help.
"He said he was having trouble with his phone," Doyle said. "Once he started artificial respiration, he didn't want to stop."
A second firefighter with Doyle said when paramedics confirmed to Hope his daughter was dead, he "broke down and started crying."
"He bent down and started hugging her," Steven Stewart said.
Firefighters and paramedics responded to a 911 call that had been made by Hope's relative, Corrine Vooys, who was called to the home by her cousin, Hope's mother, in Edmonton. She and her husband, Cornelis Vooys, arrived to find Hope and Guerin's two-year-old son crying and Hope in a bedroom kneeling over. Corrine called 911 and spoke to a dispatcher for a couple of minutes before the cordless phone died. She also tried to resuscitate the little girl.
Corrine said she heard wheezing and, at first, assumed it was the child's laboured breathing. "The air coming out was just what Jonathan or I had put into her," she told the court. "She was not breathing."
Under cross-examination by Hope's lawyer Joan Blumer, Corrine agreed that Hope's mental function had diminished following a motorcycle accident some years ago.
Cornelis also said Hope was not always clear in his thinking.
Almost four years have passed since Summer died. Initially, it was believed she was a victim of sudden infant death syndrome. Months later, results from toxicology tests showed she had ingested methadone.
A fter her arrest in B.C. last year on a manslaughter warrant, a Calgary mother accused in the overdose death of her toddler daughter told a judge she wanted to plead guilty and move on, court heard Thursday.
In a brief appearance in June 2009, Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope) asked to address the provincial court in Nanaimo after being advised she had been arrested on a warrant from Calgary on charges of manslaughter.
"It's been four years. I'm sick and tired of it. I just want to plead guilty and get it over with," Guerin told the court last year.
Judge Allan Gould said she "shouldn't jump in and plead guilty to manslaughter," advising her he could stand the matter down to give Guerin a chance to talk to duty counsel before appearing again the next day.
"Yeah, I don't want a bail hearing," she later said. "I just want it to be over and done with."
Court heard a recording of Guerin's appearance in Nanaimo on the fourth day of proceedings against her and her former common-law husband, Jonathan Hope. The two are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life to their daughter, 16-month-old Summer Hope.
Summer died in April 2006 after ingesting a lethal dose of methadone.
A warrant was issued for Guerin's arrest on the manslaughter charge after she failed to appear for a preliminary hearing in Calgary last year.
During a voir dire -- a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of evidence -- in front of Court of Queen's Bench Justice Earl Wilson, Const. Simon Bentley of the Nanaimo RCMP detachment testified he also heard Guerin say she wanted to plead guilty.
Bentley had arrested Guerin at a home in Nanaimo on June 23, 2009, after the RCMP detachment received information from the Calgary Police Service about the manslaughter warrant and information that she was in their city.
He found Guerin sitting on a bed in the back bedroom of the home owned by her boyfriend's mother.
Guerin told police her name was Sandy, but Bentley detected an accent -- Guerin is of British descent -- and said he believed she was Guerin and was under arrest on a warrant out of Calgary for manslaughter.
He read her her rights and Guerin said she wanted to contact a lawyer.
"They don't want me in Alberta. I want to deal with this in B.C.," Bentley testified Guerin told him shortly after the arrest.
Later that day, during the two-minute drive between the detachment and the courthouse, Guerin was talking to herself and Bentley heard her say, "I just want to plead guilty."
Bentley testified he then told her she was going in front of a judge and she would have the opportunity to say something.
Guerin's lawyer, Adriano Iovinelli, asked Bentley -- who appeared on video from the courthouse in Nanaimo -- if he was aware Guerin was wanted on several warrants at the time of her arrest, including those for failure to comply, fraud, obstruction and failure to appear for court.
"I understood Calgary was looking for her on other matters, yes," Bentley said.
Const. Michael Carey went to the house with Bentley as backup and testified that Guerin appeared sober and aware of why she was being arrested.
She appeared to understand her charter rights and said she wished to speak to counsel, he said, also appearing via video.
At the detachment, Bentley set up a phone call with Guerin's lawyer in Calgary. He was in court, but she spoke with his assistant and was advised to call back in 30 minutes. She was unable to speak to her lawyer during the second phone call.
She was then taken to the courthouse for her appearance.
Guerin was later returned to Calgary.
Sitting in the back of a police cruiser, the father of a toddler who died of a drug overdose told a Calgary police officer his daughter was the best thing to happen in his life, court heard Wednesday.
"I loved her like a son. I wanted another son," Jonathan Hope told the officer sitting in the front seat of the cruiser. "I know you shouldn't have a favourite, but she was the best thing to happen to me."
Hope had been sitting in the back of the patrol car -- but was not under arrest at the time, court heard -- as police and the medical examiner were inside the southwest home he shared with his common-law wife, trying to piece together the events surrounding the death of 16-month-old Summer Hope on April 30, 2006.
Initially, it was believed the child was a victim of sudden infant death syndrome after she failed to wake up that morning. Hope told officers he tried for several hours to resuscitate her using CPR and artificial respiration. Later, toxicology results showed Summer had ingested a fatal dose of methadone.
Both Hope and the girl's mother, Lisa Guerin (also known as Lisa Hope), are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life for the girl.
Primary investigator Det. Theresa Garagan told the court there were some indications that something wasn't right at the house that day, noting a generally healthy child had passed away, that there was a knife on the bed in the master bedroom and Hope was behaving in a way that was unusual for someone who had just lost a child.
"He didn't seem as upset as I would expect. He seemed not emotional at the scene," Garagan said.
Members of the Child at Risk Response Team were called to investigate over concerns for the safety of the couple's two-year-old son.
In a taped interview between the father and Const. Melissa Wheatley, a social worker with child and family services, Hope said he didn't believe the coroner when she told him Summer had been dead for some time that day.
"A few times I stopped (CPR) and Summer was totally breathing on her own," he said, mimicking the sound of shallow breaths.
He appeared distraught in the video as he asked how this could have happened to his daughter.
"I asked God to take me instead," he said. "I never wanted a daughter, but then she came and she was just so special."
In the prisoner's box, seated next to Guerin, Hope cried as he listened to himself speak on the video.
He said he had been taking care of the two children over the past few months -- spending all day with them -- while Guerin worked.
On April 29, Guerin was mad when he got home from receiving his methadone dose because she needed to get to work in Rocky Mountain House -- a two-hour drive away.
In the video interview, Hope said Guerin was a paramedic trained in mine rescues, but that she also worked as an exotic dancer at the French Maid in Calgary.
Before she left, she told Hope that Summer had got into her prescription medication, but she had made sure the girl spit it out and then rinsed out her mouth.
Hope checked on Summer at midnight and 2 a.m. and she was still breathing, he said during the interview.
The next day, when he woke up, he realized she wasn't breathing. He began CPR.
He didn't call 911 because the cordless phone was dead, he said.
Court - The case against two Calgary parents accused in the death of their toddler daughter almost four years ago is slated to begin today.
Jonathan and Lisa Hope, also known as Lisa Guerin, were arrested and subsequently charged months after their daughter died while sleeping in April 2006.
Summer Hope was 16 months old.
At the time, it was believed Summer was a victim of sudden infant death syndrome.
But toxicology tests later showed she had overdosed on methadone.
An autopsy revealed the drug in her system.
It is alleged the little girl accidentally ingested the legal dose of the drug belonging to her father, Jonathan.
Jonathan was charged in December 2006.
Lisa was arrested in Redcliff, just outside of Medicine Hat, a few days later.
Last summer, Calgary police issued a warrant for Lisa after she did not appear at a preliminary hearing.
She was arrested on Vancouver Island in June and appeared in a Nanaimo courtroom before it was decided she would be returned to Alberta to face the charges.
The case has been scheduled for two weeks in a Calgary court.
Jonathan and Lisa Hope, also known as Lisa Guerin, were arrested and subsequently charged months after their daughter died while sleeping in April 2006.
Summer Hope was 16 months old.
At the time, it was believed Summer was a victim of sudden infant death syndrome.
But toxicology tests later showed she had overdosed on methadone.
An autopsy revealed the drug in her system.
It is alleged the little girl accidentally ingested the legal dose of the drug belonging to her father, Jonathan.
Jonathan was charged in December 2006.
Lisa was arrested in Redcliff, just outside of Medicine Hat, a few days later.
Last summer, Calgary police issued a warrant for Lisa after she did not appear at a preliminary hearing.
She was arrested on Vancouver Island in June and appeared in a Nanaimo courtroom before it was decided she would be returned to Alberta to face the charges.
The case has been scheduled for two weeks in a Calgary court.
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