A preliminary hearing in the case of a former Vancouver TV host charged with assaulting a police officer in a court mask-wearing dispute is underway.
Last August, Marrett Alexander Green elected a jury trial in B.C. Supreme Court. A preliminary inquiry is held to determine if enough evidence exists to proceed to trial.
Green is charged with harming a Vancouver Police Department constable in an assault, assaulting that officer while they were engaged in their duty and attempting to take a weapon from the officer.
The charges relate to a Jan. 26, 2021 scuffle between a man allegedly refusing to wear a mask when entering the downtown Vancouver Law Courts. Court rules at the time mandated mask use.
Police were called when the man refused to comply.
In the subsequent incident, the officer suffered a broken leg.
“This was senseless, this was reckless and this was unnecessary,” VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin said at the time.
Green was a CKVU-TV news anchor between 1994 and 1999.
Preliminary inquiries are covered by a publication ban so as not to taint any potential jury should the case proceed to trial.
