Murder trial to continue next month
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on August 29, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com The trial for a 39-year old man accused of a killing a teenager in 2020, and which was halted partway through earlier in the year before defence began its case, is scheduled to resume next month.During a hearing Monday in Lethbridge Court of King’s Bench, Crown Prosecutor Lisa Weich confirmed the trial will resume Sept. 25. She also pointed out that a forensic assessment of the accused previously requested by defence and which delayed the trial continuation, has been completed.
The assessment under Section 672 of the Criminal Code allows the court to order an assessment of the mental condition of an accused, if there are reasonable grounds to believe it’s necessary to determine whether the accused is unfit to stand trial, and whether the accused was, at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, suffering from a mental disorder so as to be exempt from criminal responsibility.
The crown finished calling its evidence in the Dustin Big Bull second-degree murder trial in March, nearly four weeks after the trial started on Feb. 21. Calgary lawyer Andre Ouellette was expected to begin his case in defence of his client in June, but instead requested the assessment at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre in Calgary.
The Crown presented several hours of video and audio evidence during the course of its case, and called several police and civilian witnesses to the stand to testify.
During her opening statement at the start of the trial, Crown Prosecutor Lisa Weich related the circumstances surrounding the death of 16-year-old Tregan Crow Eagle, whose body was found on July 27, 2020 in a small thicket of shrubs near the wastewater settling pond on the Piikani Nation. The body, discovered during a search by family and friends, was covered by a blue tarp, and was near the garbage dump about half a kilometre east of the Brocket townsite.
That evidence was submitted as part of an agreed statement of facts between the Crown and defence, which provides the judge with certain undisputed facts that will not have to be proven during trial.
During her recital of the agreed statement of facts, Weich said Crow Eagle was last seen on July 22, 2020, and his mother called police the following day after Crow Eagle had not returned to his home or that of his grandparents.
After the body was found, one of the searchers, Piikani Elder Mills Big Bull, approached the tarp and said a prayer, and police were notified of the discovery. The medical examiner’s officer reported Crow Eagle died of “multiple sharp force injuries.”
Big Bull is also charged with causing an indignity to human remains. Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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