Nova Scotia·NewNine years after Corey Rogers was found dead in a holding cell at Halifax police headquarters, the case is still reverberating through the Nova Scotia justice system.Corey Rogers died 9 years ago in a holding cell when he choked on his own vomit while wearing a spit hoodBlair Rhodes · CBC News · Posted: Sep 04, 2025 2:27 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes agoCorey Rogers, 41, was arrested for public intoxication in June 2016 and was later found dead in a holding cell at Halifax police headquarters. (Submitted by Jeannette Rogers)Nine years after Corey Rogers was found dead in a holding cell at Halifax police headquarters, the case is still reverberating through the Nova Scotia justice system.This week, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge ordered a new hearing by the Nova Scotia Police Review Board after finding serious problems with a previous board hearing on the case.The board had looked at the conduct of Dan Fraser, one of two special constables who were terminated in relation to the death of Corey Rogers in June 2016 while he was in the custody of Halifax Regional Police.Rogers, 41, was arrested for public intoxication and had a spit hood placed around his head after he spit at officers. He was still wearing it when he was placed in a cell at the Halifax police station and later died when he choked on his own vomit.Fraser and Cheryl Gardner faced disciplinary proceedings from the police review board, one resulting from an internal complaint by a superior officer and a second from a public complaint lodged by Rogers’s mother, Jeannette Rogers.Those hearings resulted in the constables being fired. Only Fraser appealed the decision. His appeal was temporarily halted by a judge last year, however, after Don MacLean, then the acting chief of Halifax Regional Police, asked for a judicial review of the board’s decision, accusing the board of “significant procedural abnormalities” by trying to hold the hearing behind closed doors.That review was released on Wednesday.In overturning the board’s decision, Justice John Bodurtha questioned the way the board operated. “At Mr. Fraser’s hearing, all parties agreed that if the NSPRB wished to continue with a closed hearing, notice had to be given to the media to give them the opportunity to make submissions,” the judge noted.”The NSPRB arrived at what it referred to as a ‘compromise position’. That position was that the internal hearing would proceed first — completely closed to the public — with a public hearing to follow for any additional evidence. The NSPRB was silent on related issues such as notice to the public and media.”Two special constables were terminated in relation to the death of Corey Rogers while he was in the custody of Halifax Regional Police. (Submitted by Jeannette Rogers)Bodurtha found the board was wrong to combine the two complaints against Fraser.”The issue in this case is not simply that the NSPRB acted without statutory authority but that it usurped both the statutory role of Mr. Fraser in initiating an appeal of the outcome of Ms. Rogers’ complaint, and the Complaints Commissioner as the gatekeeper for referring public complaints where appropriate to the NSPRB,” Bodurtha wrote.Halifax lawyer Jason Cooke represented Rogers’s mother throughout the hearing process.”It’s somewhat disappointing that we had to go through the process, but very happy with Justice Bodurtha’s decision,” Cooke said Thursday.”And really, he agreed with the positions of both Ms. Rogers and Chief MacLean, really, on all points.”Cooke said Rogers’s mother is pleased with the outcome.”This has been, obviously, a long ordeal, a lot of different proceedings, different courts with outcomes that were reversed and changed and then all of this, so it’s been a long road for Jeannette, no question about that.”Cooke said because one disciplinary decision against Fraser still stands, he remains out of a job, and a second police review board hearing would be pointless. He said he expects lawyers for the police department to make a motion to that effect when the new board hearing opens.”We are pleased that the ruling has provided the necessary clarity and guidance on this matter,” MacLean said in a statement. “As it has now been remitted for further consideration by the Police Review Board, we will not be making any further comments at this time.”ABOUT THE AUTHORBlair Rhodes has been a journalist for more than 40 years, the last 31 with CBC. His primary focus is on stories of crime and public safety. He can be reached at blair.rhodes@cbc.ca
N.S. court orders new hearing in long-running police cell death case
