Family of victim frustrated by court delays
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on March 31, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com The family of Brocket resident Linden Grier is still waiting for justice nearly a year after he was killed.Grier was beaten to death last May 24 in Fort Macleod. His family was waiting outside the Lethbridge Courthouse Wednesday morning to hear of a trial date for the man accused in the crime, Cullen Drake Tailfeathers.
A new court date of Jan. 23-27 was set Wednesday for Tailfeathers.
A trial date set last November for July 18-22 was cancelled earlier this month after an agent for defence lawyer Balfour Der of Calgary had to be rescheduled for personal reasons.
On Wednesday morning family members of Grier unfurled a banner outside the courthouse.
Tailfeathers faces one count of manslaughter in Grier’s death.
The 33-year-old Grier, the father of three young children, was found dead in the early hours of May 24 after police were called about a report of an injured man.
Grier’s 64-year-old father Emery stood outside the courthouse Wednesday with his sister Amanda Grier, and daughter Shauna Grier along with her family including son Ethan Grier and spouse Evan Bratton.
The family says many questions remain unanswered about the night Linden died. He’d gone to Fort Macleod leaving his television set on with a video game he’d been playing.
“The whole story doesn’t make sense,” said Shauna, adding the family still hasn’t gotten over the shock of his death.
Her brother was “a really good young man” who was tech-savvy and devoted to his children, she said.
He was also fastidious, the family said, not letting anyone into his home with their shoes on. And he was talented at carpentry and tiling, the said. Amanda said he had tiled her family’s home and “did really beautiful work.”
Emery said he and his son had golfed together the day before Linden died.
He had told his dad that day he wasn’t interested in another relationship and just wanted to take care of his kids.
“I don’t know what the hold up is on it all,” said Emery said of court proceedings.
“The guy’s just sitting at home, free as a bird,” said Emery of the accused who is out on bail.
Emery said the family will be at court proceedings when the trial begins. But because of COVID restrictions, they couldn’t get into the courthouse on Wednesday.
“We haven’t come to terms with it really,” said Shauna about her brother’s loss.
After Linden’s death, Emery discovered while checking Linden’s mail his son had been awarded custody of his two oldest children.
The family says Linden went to Fort Macleod to visit a woman.
“The whole story doesn’t make sense, We don’t know the whole story of what happened,” said Shauna. Amanda said it seemed obvious by the looks of his house her nephew hadn’t intended to be gone long.
“His TV was still on, his game was still on,” added Emery.
“He was supposed to stop at my house where we could have talked through his plans,” said Shauna. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He just liked to be at home with his kids,” added Shauna. Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter 4
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