A charge of violating a court-imposed publication ban has been dropped against the managing editor of the Halifax satirical publication Frank Magazine, after the Crown said it would not offer any evidence in the case.

Andrew Douglas published an article just prior to the start of the preliminary inquiry for Christopher Garnier, the 28-year-old man charged with second-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old Catherine Campbell. She was a police officer in Truro and was not on duty when she was slain.

Douglas based his article on information contained in documents that were subsequently placed under a publication ban — at the request of the Crown — and were sealed by a judge at the preliminary inquiry.

Change of heart

Douglas and his lawyer had argued that since he had obtained the information outside the court process, he was not subject to the ban. The Crown had argued that Douglas was bound by the ban and charged him with violating it.

But on Friday, they announced a change of heart.

Paul Carver, the chief Crown attorney for the Halifax region, said the change came after the Crown reviewed material provided by Douglas's lawyer.

Paul Carver, the chief Crown attorney for the Halifax region, said the Crown changed its mind on pursuing the charge after they concluded the defence was in a position to raise a reasonable doubt. (CBC)

"We did then take the opportunity to look at other decisions from across the country, didn't feel that they allowed us to make an argument sufficiently in response to the defence authorities and therefore felt that those raised a reasonable doubt on the charge," Carver said.

'This was mishandled'

Douglas told reporters the charge should never have been laid.

"This was mishandled from the very beginning," he said after the charge was withdrawn in Halifax provincial court.

Douglas said Catherine Cogswell, the Crown lawyer assigned to prosecute the alleged publication ban violation, wouldn't listen to his arguments — so he and his lawyer appealed to her bosses.

"We kept going at them, saying, 'Here's a bunch of different reasons why there's no chance of conviction,'" Douglas said.

"She kept coming back and saying, 'See you in court.'"

'So much grief'

Douglas said his magazine faced a backlash over this article.

"This story gave us so much grief," he said.

"It was pulled from a lot of stores' shelves in Truro and Pictou County. People were apoplectic about this story and law enforcement and the Crown just couldn't believe that we would publish this. And in my opinion, they set out to look at a way that they could make Frank pay for it."

Douglas said the ordeal has cost the magazine thousands of dollars to defend itself.

No apology

Meanwhile, Carver rejected a question from another Frank reporter that the Crown owed Douglas an apology.

"We concluded that the defence was in a position to raise a reasonable doubt," he said.

"We could not refute that position and having reached that conclusion, it's our obligation to proceed no further and we took steps to inform Mr. Douglas's counsel and we're here at our earliest opportunity."

Douglas says he hasn't ruled out trying to launch a malicious prosecution lawsuit.

Bail hearing coming up in homicide case

"We spent thousands of dollars defending a charge that should never have been laid," he said.

Christopher Calvin Garnier is charged with second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body in the death of Catherine Campbell. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

The homicide case at the heart of the dispute is back in court next month, when Garnier has a scheduled bail hearing. He's been in custody since shortly after Campbell's body was discovered under the Macdonald Bridge in September 2015.

Garnier's trial, by judge and jury, is scheduled for next year.