The testimony of one of the occupants of the grey Ford Escape on the day Colten Boushie was shot and killed dominated the Wednesday afternoon session of the trial of Gerald Stanley in Battleford.
Eric Meechance of Red Pheasant First Nation had been called by the Crown to describe the events of that fateful Aug. 9, 2016, day.
But his testimony came under ferocious cross-examination by defence lawyer Scott Spencer, who assailed Meechance for a previous weapons conviction, for "car-shopping," and for not telling the whole story to authorities, the media and to his family. Spencer also tried to portray the group as looking to steal from Stanley’s property.
By the time Spencer turned his focus to pictures from the crime scene, a distraught Meechance could not go on.
After discussions with the Crown, Spencer said there would be no further questioning of Meechance, and court ended early for the day.
It was the most dramatic afternoon of the trial so far and a possible turning point for the case.
Up to this point, the picture painted in media interviews by Boushie friends and family about what had happened on Aug. 9, 2016, had been that the group of young Indigenous people had only been seeking help to fix a flat tire when entering the Stanley farm.
That story took major hits Wednesday as a different picture emerged: one of drinking, car-shopping, gun-shooting and other activities that until now had been subject to court-imposed publication bans.
With Crown prosecutor Bill Burge beginning the questioning, Eric Meechance confirmed that he was in a relationship with Belinda Jackson, a passenger in the vehicle that day, and also knew both Kiora Wuttunee and Colten Boushie. Both of them were in a relationship as well.
Meechance also knew Cassidy Cross, who drove the vehicle. Like the others, Meechance was from Red Pheasant First Nation.
Under Crown questioning, Meechance testified that he, Belinda, Kiora and Cassidy had been at Boushie’s grandmother’s place earlier in the day.
Four of them were drinking a 60-pound Crown Royal, he testified. Meechance had not been drinking at this point.
He noted a .22 rifle had been picked up and was used to shoot at targets in the bush at Boushie’s grandmother’s earlier that day. Meechance also testified there were casings in Kiora’s SUV vehicle.
From Colten’s grandmother’s house, the group headed to Kiora’s home. Eventually, they headed out to Maymont, in the direction of the river, to swim. The group were driving in Kiora’s grey Ford Escape SUV.
At the river, four of them were swimming but Eric testified that he stayed on the shore. He did say he had been drinking.
After finishing swimming, the group left in the Ford Escape, but there were some issues with the vehicle getting stuck in the sandbar.
Ultimately the group was able to head off. The vehicle crossed the sandbar, and headed to the road under the bridge and crossed the culvert. Soon after, Meechance said the tire started hissing.
Soon after there was a problem with the muffler and at one point they tried to break it off.
Cassidy Cross was driving the vehicle at the time and Boushie was seated in the passenger front seat. Eric was in the back seat between Kiora and Belinda.
Meechance was asked about when their vehicle entered the Fouhy farm. He testified that one of them got out to check a vehicle there. He said a friend tried to break a window.
Meechance then testified about when the vehicle entered the Stanley farm.
He said under questioning that it was Cassidy who got out and who had jumped on and off the quad at that location.
At that point, he testified he heard people yelling, “Hey, what the f—.”
Soon after, a hammer hit the windshield of the SUV, with Meechance saying the windshield broke into “a big spiderweb across.”
Wuttunee was still in the back passenger seat when the windshield was broken.
The SUV then hit the other vehicle when attempting to leave the scene; at that point, both Cassidy and himself got out of the vehicle and ran.
Meechance said he had started running away when the first shots rang out.
“I heard two shots”, Meechance testified. He also said he believed he was being shot at, saying the shots “whistled by me.”
He testified he was just across the road when he heard the third gunshot.
Meechance testified he ended up walking down the road back to the reserve and was later picked up and arrested by police.
Later, Meechance described how he learned that Colten Boushie was dead.
“I found out pretty much the worst way,” he said.
He was in custody.
“We were in North Battleford cells” at the time, he said.
He said Belinda came in first and said, “He’s gone”.
Kiora came in later and was crying.
“I just broke down in my cell,” Meechance said.
When Spencer went to work on the cross examination, he began with the drinking that went on.
“How many drinks do you think you had?” asked Spencer.
Meechance responded it was seven shots out of a bottle. They were drinking Crown Royal and “some kind of vodka.”
Spencer later showed a photo and finally was able to have Meechance admit he was drinking flavoured vodka out of a bottle.
Spencer then went over the timeline. The day started with Eric going to the band hall, with Belinda driving his truck. Meechance explained he didn’t own the truck but it was registered in his name. They then went to Boushie’s grandmother's place and around 2 p.m. left to go to the lake to go swimming.
They were shooting targets at Colten’s grandma's, and then shot some more by Kiora’s house. They were shooting ducks with a .22, “shooting out the window of the vehicle.," Spencer said.
At this point Spencer brought up the police statement on the incident: “Do you recall mentioning a gun at any point in the interview?”
Meechance responded no. Spencer suggested a reason why he hadn’t.
“You’ve been convicted of a weapons offence yourself! You had a five-year prohibition on using a gun.”
Meechance explaimed the gun wasn’t his, it was Cassidy’s.
“That’s a pretty serious piece of information that the police need,” Spencer said. “That you guys were armed.”
Spencer then zeroed in on Meechance about “checking vehicles.”
“What is checking vehicles?” asked Spencer. “Is that a service you’re providing?”
Meechance insisted they had stolen nothing.
Following a brief break, Spencer resumed his grilling of Meechance, and the exchange quickly became tense and confrontational.
Spencer asked if Meechance had done a break and enter the night before at the liquor store. He insisted he was at his grandmother’s.
Spencer asked about Meechance’s conversations with the FSIN. They came to make sure it was handled right, he said. He also asked about his statements to the media and to the family, and asked what he told them.
“You knew what led up to it,” asked Spencer, “the checking of the vehicles and the crashing of the SUV, right? Did you tell the family you were out checking vehicles?”
No, Meechance responded. He said he told them that Colten got shot.
Things got tense as Spencer asked about whether they had deserved to know the truth about what had happened that day.
“Don’t you think they deserve to know that you were out checking out vehicles and you had a gun in there, you were shooting a gun out of the vehicle, that you drank a 60-pounder?”
But “it’s not like we went there and stole a vehicle,” said Meechance about what happened.
“But at Fouhy’s farm... that’s exactly what you were doing,” Spencer said.
“We’re not here for that. We’re here for Stanley’s farm,” Meechance responded.
Spencer asked why Meechance went to the media.
The family asked him to, he responded.
"Do you think that had anything to do with you leaving out the parts about checking out the vehicles?” was Spencer’s reaction.
Spencer then zeroed in on Meechance telling the media “you and your friends were unarmed.” Meechance insisted he was only talking about what happened at the Stanley farm, not about that whole day.
He also insisted they didn’t check the vehicles at Stanley’s farm, but then Spencer asked about firing up the quad.
“We didn’t fire up the quad,” Meechance insisted. It did not move, he insisted.
The grilling came to an abrupt end when Spencer started to show Meechance photos from the crime scene at the Ford Escape.
“Does that barrel go with the stock... that was beside the red car? And all that was the gun that you guys were shooting during the course of the day? We need a verbal response, sir.”
A rattled-looking, emotional Meechance could not go on at that point, and a break was called. A member of Victims Services was called up to tend to Meechance.
After several minutes, court reconvened. Spencer indicated he was finished with cross examination. Crown prosecutor Burge suggested it was a good time for an “early day”, and so they adjourned to 10 a.m. Thursday morning.
