Calgary lawyer faces sexual assault, indecent exposure, harassment charges

A Calgary lawyer who represented women who were sexually assaulted and assaulted by RCMP officers has been charged with sexual assault, public indecency and harassment, CBC News has learned.

Patrick Higgerty, 66, who also served as a justice of the peace in Alberta, has two more trials scheduled for 2024.

“Given his past history, this is a complex matter and requires a great deal of preparation and research,” Higgerty's lawyer, Alain Heppner, said in a brief statement.

Timeline

The alleged sexual assaults occurred in 2018 and 2019.

The criminal charges were filed in 2023, months after his law firm came under fire over allegations that an employee misappropriated more than $400,000 in client trust funds.

In 2019, the RCMP reached a $100 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against women who experienced sexual assault and battery as civilian RCMP officers.

Higgerty is accused of sexually assaulting a woman he knew while working on the case.

The crime dates listed in court documents show the alleged attacks took place in 2018 and 2019.

Charges of harassment

Higgerty also faces two counts of indecency in public on the same day.

A trial on these charges is scheduled for September.

But first, Higgerty will stand trial on harassment charges in July.

The charges stem from allegations that Higgerty stalked or harassed the same woman in 2022. Court documents also list the man as one of Higgerty's alleged victims. It's unclear what connection he has to Higgerty or the woman.

Higgerty is currently barred from practicing law in the province under a guardianship order from the Law Society of Alberta.

The trust fund is short of money

The order is not related to Higgerty's criminal charges, but to the collapse of his law firm.

The story continues

Higgerty Law is currently under supervision, with a court-appointed custodian overseeing its assets due to allegations that an employee of the firm improperly transferred funds from trust accounts.

Last July, Higgerty told a judge that a two-pronged attack was to blame for the firm's collapse.

In September 2021, Higgerty was attacked outside his home and knocked unconscious.

Three months later, according to an agreed statement of facts submitted as part of Dimetri Marr's guilty plea, three men broke into Higgerty's home with the intention of attacking him.

Higgerty was offered $1,000 for the attack

Marr admitted that he was one of the violators.

Details of the crime come from an agreed statement of facts (ASF) filed as part of Marr's plea.

In an interview with police after his arrest, Marr told investigators he offered $1,000 to break into the home and attack Higgerty.

Higgerty was not home at the time, but a family friend was, and Marr punched him as the attackers searched for a lawyer.

Marr told police he showed her a picture of Higgerty, who was an attorney.

Victim impact statement

According to the ASF, Marr told police that he understood the targeted attack “was to inform Mr. Higgerty that this was the second targeted attack because Mr. Higgerty had not received the message after the first.”

Marr told police the attack was related to Higgerty's work.

Marr also said he was only paid half of what he was originally offered because Higgerty was not home at the time of the break-in.

In a victim impact statement, Higgerty described the “devastating” impact the two attacks had on her and her family.

He said the attacks started a “downward spiral” that affected him mentally, physically and financially.

Higgerty said the accident happened when he confided in a friend who offered to help him run his law firm.

That friend, Higgerty said, turned out to be a “swindler” who “embezzled” more than $400,000 in client trust funds and triggered the Alberta Law Society's involvement in appointing a custodian to the firm.

“If it wasn't for the home invasion, this disaster wouldn't have happened,” Higgerty wrote.