Gerald Stanley took the stand in his own defence to close out testimony at his second degree murder trial in Battleford Monday afternoon.
Stanley was the last of half a dozen witnesses called by the defence that day. While he reiterated the defence’s now-familiar theory that the gun went off unexpectedly, the Crown spent a lot of their time in cross-examination poking holes in that argument and trying to show contradictions.
Soon after Stanley’s testimony, the defence rested.
Next, counsel is to meet with Chief Justice Popsecul on Tuesday with respect to legal matters regarding his charge to the jury.
There will be no proceedings Wednesday. Closing arguments and Popescul’s charge to the jury is set for Thursday at 10 a.m. The seven women and five men on the jury will not be back in court until those Thursday morning proceedings.
After the charge from Popescul, the jury will be sequestered and deliberations will begin.
The Stanley testimony on Monday capped a day of drama at the Battleford court house. The day had seen a large group of demonstrators at the court house, with supporters of the shooting victim Colten Boushie waving placards during the noon hour and the close of the day.
Once Stanley was sworn in to testify, defence lawyer Scott Spencer began with questions focusing on Stanley’s background.
Stanley described his occupation as rancher, truck driver and part-time mechanic. Asked if he ever helped people off the road, Stanley responded, “Oh, yeah.”
The shells found on the deck of the house, he explained, were in relation to his cow-calf operation. His Tokarev pistol was used to scare away other animals during calving season.
Stanley described getting his ammunition either from a store or ordering it over the phone. The ammunition he bought for the Tokarev was purchased from Lloydminster by mail.
The rounds used on Aug. 9, 2016, were grabbed out of his tool box in the shop. He said he had found one dud per box.
Then Stanley described the day of the shooting. They were working on the fence that day, which was hot and humid, he said.
He said he and his wife Leesa, commonly known as Dee, were putting up the rails on the fence. His son Sheldon arrived around 4 or 4:30 p.m., at which point Mrs. Stanley began mowing grass and the two others continued working on the fence.
Stanley then described the moment the grey Ford Escape arrived. He said he could hear a car coming down the road fast, with popping noises. He and Sheldon were “kind of looking at each other,” and initially thought it had gone right by on the road.
Then he heard a car in the yard and saw it “slide beside” a gold truck belonging to a customer. He initially thought it was somebody connected to the gold truck. He saw someone get into the gold truck, and Stanley said it looked like the individual was looking around on the seat for something. At that point, father and son were at the place in the fence where they had been about to install a gate.
The SUV vehicle then revved up and moved toward the shed, Stanley testified, and he saw a third person walking beside the vehicle.
“We knew something was wrong,” said Stanley, noting it was “not ordinary.”
Not long after, Stanley testified, Sheldon said, “What the hell is going on here?” Sheldon then took off running up the hill. Gerald followed him.
Stanley testified he then heard the quad start. Sheldon was hollering at the person to get off the quad. According to Stanley, it looked like someone was trying to get the quad in gear and take off.
The individual then jumped off the quad while another individual ran out of the shop. Stanley believes now it was Eric Meechance who was on the quad.
The Ford Escape was then put in reverse. Stanley testified he kicked the taillight, and then the vehicle went forward. It looked like the vehicle was going towards Sheldon, who took a hammer and hit the windshield.
It looked like it was over, but then Stanley described the SUV hitting their blue Ford Escape.
At this point, Stanley headed to the shop. He said he had two handguns inside the shop door, including the Tokarev, which he grabbed. He opened a drawer, grabbed a strip and peeled off what he thought was two rounds.
He walked into the open area and saw two people who “obviously came from the car,” he testified.
At this point he was glancing around, looking for Sheldon. He said he was thinking he was going to “make some noise and hopefully they'll run out of the car."
The other thing he was thinking of while walking, Stanley testified, was of another incident along the same road around the same time they had moved there 30 years ago, in which two farmers had been murdered.
Stanley kept going, not knowing where Sheldon was, he said, then raised the gun in the air and fired “straight up.”
He saw the “two fellows” from the vehicle and then fired again.
Stanley remembered firing “two or three times.” The first time he pulled the trigger, Stanley confirmed the gun went off. With the second shot, the two ran away.
He then took out the magazine from the handgun, and had the magazine in his left hand and the gun in his right.
When he saw the lawnmower in the vicinity of the SUV, he said, a feeling of “pure terror” came over him, thinking the SUV had run over his wife.
The vehicle revved up again, Stanley testified, and he thought it was going to run over him as well.
He ran to the driver’s window and "noticed there was a bar - something metal sticking out the window," Stanley said.
He said that he "took my left hand and I banged that piece of pipe ahead, and I wanted to turn that car off, so that he couldn't move again. So I reached in for the keys."
Stanley then described what happened inside the vehicle.
“I was reaching in and across the steering wheel column to turn the keys off and boom, the thing just went off,” referring to the gun.
Stanley was asked if his finger was on the trigger. "No", he responded.
"Did you point the Tokarev at the deceased?" asked Spencer.
"No, I didn't" responded Stanley.
"At any time?"
"No."
"Did you point it at anyone that day?" asked Spencer. "No", Stanley responded.
"Did you intend to hurt anyone?"
"No, I just wanted them to leave."
Spencer asked Stanley if he threatened anyone with the gun. Stanley said no.
When asked what he did afterwards, Stanley said he "couldn’t believe what just happened. Everything seemed to just go silent." He just "backed away" and walked into the shop.
During the main examination of Stanley by Spencer, the accused was asked, at length, to demonstrate his position in relation to the weapon. Stanley held the gun and showed the jury the position he was in, when he held the gun in one hand and the magazine in the other. He also demonstrated attempting to grab the keys with his left hand while holding the gun in his right.
Prosecutor Bill Burge handled the cross-examination, beginning by asking Stanley about the amount of guns in house. Stanley said only about five worked.
Stanley was asked if he ever got a hunting licence, had ever got a licence for restricted firearms or took firearm safety programs. Yes, he responded.
Burge then began grilling Stanley about safety aspects asking if he had instruction about what not to do.
“Did you learn not to point a gun at somebody,” Burge asked. Stanley said yes.
Burge challenged Stanley on several aspects of his testimony.
Regarding the gun, Stanley said he got the gun because he was “scared.” He just wanted everyone to leave.
Regarding the ammunition, Stanley insisted that he pulled what he thought was two rounds from the drawer, but Burge challenged Stanley on the number of rounds that were in the Tokarev gun. While Stanley testified he thought he thought the gun was empty after shooting in the air. In fact, there was a third round in the gun.
Burge challenged Stanley for being under the impression that to make the gun safe all he needed to do was take out the magazine. During Crown questioning, it had been stated Stanley didn’t realize this particular Tokarev did not have this particular safety mechanism. When Burge asked Stanley if he knew how a slide could be opened up on the Tokarev, Stanley responded, “I do not, that’s why we’re here.”
Burge grilled Stanley on why the expended cartridge was found on the dash of the car.
At one point Burge asked Stanley why he was concerned about his wife. “I love her,” Stanley responded.
Burge also challenged Stanley’s contention that his intent was just to scare the group, noting by this point the other two males had already run away.
After Burge concluded cross-examination, Spencer entered some agreed statements of facts into evidence, and then finally rose to say “the defence closes its case.”
