Kurt Churchill won't have to provide DNA to police while appeal pending

A St. John's man won't have to provide DNA to a national databank while he appeals his guilty verdict for threatening a police officer.

Kurt Churchill had been scheduled to provide the genetic sample to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary on Tuesday.

But Monday afternoon, his lawyer successfully argued at Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court to have the order to provide a DNA sample set aside, pending the outcome of his appeal.

"It's really the DNA order that's the reason why we have come to court on such short notice," Churchill's lawyer, Robby Ash, said during the hearing.

He argued that his client would suffer prejudice if the stay were not granted.

"Once the order is executed that bell cannot be unrung," Ash told the court.

Justice Vikas Khaladkar gave an oral ruling from the bench on Monday afternoon and issued a written decision Friday.

The sole question to be decided was whether the Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to grant the order that Churchill requested.

"In the circumstances of this case, the order for the provision of DNA samples should be stayed," Khaladkar wrote in that judgment.

"The application is granted."

Found guilty at provincial courtof uttering threats

Earlier this month, provincial court Judge David Orr handed Churchill a conditional discharge and 12 months' probation, in addition to making the DNA order.

Orr had found Churchill guilty of uttering threats, in relation to a late-night incident dating back to last year.

• Kurt Churchill gets conditional discharge for uttering threats against police officer

In March 2019, RNC officers were called to George Street around 3 a.m. after receiving reports of a man throwing punches outside the Martini Bar. Bouncers were trying to remove him.

The police took Churchill into custody. At the St. John's lockup, Churchill made abusive comments to police, before telling an RNC officer, "I'm going to put my boot in your f---ing head."

At his sentencing hearing, Churchill, 43, said he had no recollection of what happened, and apologized.

House searched in homicide probe

Churchill owns a home on Craigmillar Avenue in St. John's that has become a focus of police in a homicide investigation.

James Cody was found shot to death on the street near Churchill's home this July.

The RNC executed search warrants at 40 Craigmillar Ave. and seized a number of items including four 9-mm bullet casings, DNA swabs from drinking glasses and a beer can, plus gunshot residue swabs that have been sent off for forensic analysis.

• Police find handgun in James Cody homicide probe, forensic work delayed by pandemic

So has a handgun that police may believe have been used to kill Cody. It was found at a nearby address, located behind 40 Craigmillar Ave.

No charges have been laid in relation to Cody's death, and the RNC has not publicly named any suspects.

Police have not confirmed what, if any, connection Churchill has to the homicide.

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