Vernon Supreme Court

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

A BC judge has rejected a Vernon man's story that he was on the way to the police station to hand over a sawed-off shotgun when he was arrested.

Maxwell Buchanan had said that he'd been given the gun hours earlier to pay off a debt, but soon realized he didn't want it.

The 29-year-old said he decided to drop it off at the Vernon RCMP detachment and was trying to flag down the police car to hand over the weapon when he was arrested.

However, Justice Steven Wilson didn't buy it.

According to a May 9 BC Supreme Court decision, Buchanan was homeless and living in Polson Park when the incident took place.

The decision said that in January 2023, police got a call saying a man was walking through Polson Park holding a shotgun. A man and a woman made the call, but neither would leave their names.

Police arrived at the scene and arrested Buchanan, finding the shotgun in his backpack.

At trial, Buchanan pleaded not guilty, arguing the defence of "innocent possession."

"Innocent possession arises where an accused person possesses contraband but lacks a blameworthy state of mind that would lead to criminal liability. This can arise from possessing the contraband solely for the purpose of disposing of it, or from possessing it for a reason pertaining to public duty," the decision read.

Buchanan said that he'd been at a drug house on 21 Street known as "Mom's Place" earlier that day and met his friend Dylan Price.

Price had shown Buchanan the shotgun, which concerned him because he said Price had become "increasingly erratic, violent and depressed" and he thought Price would be a danger to himself or others if he had the gun.

Price also owed Buchanan $2,500, and Buchanan took the weapon as a repayment of the debt.

He stayed at the drug house taking meth before heading back to Polson Park.

Buchanan said he realized he didn't want the gun at all and thought about throwing it in the creek or a dumpster. However, instead, he said he decided to take it to the RCMP detachment and drop it off at the after-hours door.

He then got a call from his ex-girlfriend Nicole (Nikki) Andrews, who wanted to meet him at the Polson Park skatepark.

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As Buchanan walked to the skatepark, he noticed two people wearing bandanas over their faces who approached him and asked for a cigarette. He handed over two smokes and used his blowtorch, which he kept in his backpack and used for doing odd jobs, to light them.

The masked couple then asked for Buchanan's headphones, which he handed over, and hung onto his blowtorch.

Buchanan then pulled his sawn-off shotgun out and pointed at them.

"Put down what's mine and step back," he said.

He then realized that one of the masked robbers was in fact his ex-girlfriend.

He got his headphones and blowtorch back, put the gun in his backpack and headed out of the park.

While the people who called 911 didn't stick around, the decision said the number came from the ex-girlfriend's phone.

While Buchanan maintained he was on the way to the police station to hand over the gun, and tried to flag the police car down, the Justice didn't buy it.

"I find that Mr. Buchanan was walking down the alley towards the apartment block parking lot where he was arrested, not because he was planning to give the officer the gun he had just acquired, but because he was hoping to avoid detection," the Justice said.

The decision said the friend who gave him the gun died in December of an overdose, and the ex-girlfriend didn't testify at the trial.

Justice Wilson put holes in Buchanan's story, saying it was dramatically different than what he told police after his arrest.

The Justice ruled Buchanan's version of events was "implausible" and convicted him of two firearms charges.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

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