A B.C. Supreme Court jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the case against a Victoria man charged with trying to hire an underage prostitute online.
Norman Sedore was arrested during a Saanich police sting when he replied to an online erotic services advertisement in April 2009. He was charged with communicating for the purpose of obtaining for consideration the sexual services of a person under the age of 18.
The case went to trial in the spring of March 2013, but ended in a mistrial when Sedore’s defence lawyer, Doug Christie, became ill and died.
His second jury trial began two weeks ago and ended Saturday morning when the jury could not decide on Sedore’s guilt or innocence after deliberating for a day and a half.
Justice Geoff Gaul told the four-woman, eight-man jury the key issue in the case was what was in Sedore’s mind when he communicated with undercover police officers on April 14, 2009.
It is not known if the Crown will proceed with another trial.
Sedore’s defence lawyer, Barclay Johnson, could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
During final submissions, prosecutor Ruth Picha told the jury that Saanich police created Project Reader in the spring of 2009 to stop or reduce the sexual exploitation of youth.
Const. Laura Vye, an outreach officer for vulnerable and exploited youth, learned that underage girls were selling sex on Craigslist.
After researching the site, she and Const. Andy Stuart created an ad — “sexy, young tight bodies lookin for fun” — and posted it online.
Within 30 minutes, the officers received an email from Sedore under the username joeblojoeblo, Picha said.
According to Picha, the undercover officers offered Sedore a choice of two girls: “Janelle 16” and “Courtney 17.” Sedore replied to the email, outlining the sexual acts he was interested in.
“The only rational explanation for this is that he was contracting online for an underage girl to perform sex acts. He was communicating for that purpose,” Picha said.
Sedore never questioned their age, although other men who answered the same ad were no longer interested when they found out how young the girls were, Picha said.
Sedore, with $200 cash and two condoms, arrived at a Victoria hotel and met an undercover officer disguised as a madam.
The madam told Sedore the girl was only 16. “So there’s no rough play and no hard-core s---,” said Picha, recalling the undercover officer’s testimony.
Sedore replied: “Sixteen? Is that legal?”
“No, the legal age is 19, which is why we have to advertise it as that, but who f---ing cares,” the madam told him.
Sedore took the key without hesitation and went to the hotel room, where he was arrested, Picha said.
In his submissions, Johnson said from the very beginning Sedore was only interested in the services of an adult prostitute. The ad led him to believe he would meet a 19-year-old. When he saw photographs of the person posing as Janelle — a 30-year-old police officer — Sedore believed he would be meeting a woman in her 30s.
He also testified that he didn’t realize that “Janelle 16” meant that Janelle was 16 years old.
When Sedore arrived in the parking lot and the madam told him Janelle was 16, he reacted with shock, Johnson said. The madam quickly reassured him that Janelle was actually 19.
“Mr. Sedore is adamant that the officer led him to believe Janelle was 19,” Johnson told the jury.
The defence lawyer also took issue with the undercover officer’s testimony that she was able to remember every word of her conversation with Sedore verbatim. The officer had in fact gone for lunch and been debriefed before making her notes, he said.
The conversation was not recorded and her memory of what was said cannot be trusted, Johnson said.
