Jury deliberations have begun at the inquest into the death of Brydon Whitstone.
Thursday saw the end of four days of testimony into the events of Oct. 21, 2017 when Whitstone was shot and killed in an RCMP member-involved shooting. The inquest resumed Friday morning at the court house in Battleford with the replaying of the video taken from Cst. Matthew McKay’s vehicle of the police chase that ensued. Coroner Robert Kennedy then gave his final instructions to the jury.
According to coroner Robert Kennedy, the jury had five questions to answer: to establish the name of the deceased, the date and time of death, the place of death, the cause of death, and by what means the deceased died. On the last question, the jury had to decide among five choices: natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. (Regarding the word homicide, this is a broad term that is not to be confused with the criminal standard of “culpable homicide.”)
The jury was also instructed they could make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.
Jury deliberations began shortly before 11 am. Stay with the News-Optimist for continuing coverage of the Brydon Whitstone inquest.
