Saskatoon judge rules on drug-use statements in Taylor Kennedy voir dire

A Saskatoon judge decided on Friday that statements made at a tragic crime scene in 2021 were completely voluntary, moving Taylor Kennedy’s case forward.

Kennedy is charged with THC-impaired driving causing death after nine-year-old Baeleigh Maurice was killed by a pickup truck while riding her scooter across a crosswalk in September 2021.

At the crime scene, Kennedy told police she consumed marijuana and mushrooms the night prior, volunteering the information before police conducted any official questioning.

1:09 Statements spotlighted in Taylor Kennedy trial

The statement prompted an oral swab for THC from a drug recognition expert.

During the defence’s closing case in April, Kennedy’s lawyer Thomas Hynes said her comments were compelled by police before she was read her rights and that Kennedy thought she was required to give statements by law.

He said her comments and confession of drug use should not be held against her.

Crown prosecutor Michael Pilon argued officers on scene didn’t ask Kennedy about drug consumption until after she had willingly given up the information on her own.

He said that based on transcripts and officer testimonies, at no point did police tell Kennedy she was required to answer questions. Pilon argued Kennedy told police everything she did because she felt a moral obligation to do so, not because she was compelled by police.

“Compulsion implies an absence of consent,” Judge Jane Wootten said on Friday.

Wootten said she accepts that Kennedy thought it was law to report an accident but decided she is skeptical that Kennedy felt she had the statutory duty to disclose her prior drug use before official questioning.

She decided Kennedy’s statements weren’t compelled by officers and said Kennedy more likely volunteered the information outside of official statements to help the case and “be a good person.”

Three years after her death, Maurice’s family is still looking for justice.

“The fact that this has gone on for so long, that just hinders healing for the family,” FSIN Vice Chief Aly Bear said at court on Friday.

She said she wants the family to know that they are supported.

“They are dealing with attending court and they are dealing with if they are going to have justice served and that takes a lot out of a person and especially if you put into perspective, it as your own niece, your own child, your own family member,” Bear said.

The case will continue in court Tuesday.