The lawyer for accused killer Jason Klaus cross-examined the other man charged in a triple-murder case in a Red Deer courtroom Saturday morning.
The defence lawyer, Allan Fay, suggested Joshua Frank is lying about his involvement in the murders and tried to undermine his credibility.
Fay spent several hours meticulously going over the Frank’s police interviews and comparing what he said then with the testimony he has given in court.
Earlier in the morning, Frank’s lawyer — Andrea Urquhart — asked him to recount what happened after he was arrested for the murders of Klaus’ parents – Sandra and Gordon – and sister – Monica Klaus. The Crown says all three died on Dec. 8, 2013 and their house in Castor, Alta. went up in flames.
READ MORE: 3 people dead after Alberta house fire
Frank said he didn’t understand how he could be charged since he passed a polygraph and said he cooperated with police. He said that he “deflected” as much as he could, trying to “distance myself from everything” by “telling them a number of stories that weren’t true.”
When asked by Urquhart why he didn’t tell police what he has told the court during testimony under oath, Frank said that at that point, he had told so many stories and different lies that things “just snowballed.”
Fay then spent the remainder of Saturday cross-examining Frank, attempting to paint a picture of a man who lies because he can.
Frank has said Klaus sexually assaulted him when he was 14 years old, forcing him to masturbate Klaus and forcing him to perform oral sex. He also alleges Klaus anally raped him. Frank said that when he resisted, Klaus hit him. Frank said he did not share this story with his parents at the time because he “knew this would crush them” and did not tell police because he “was scared to tell them.”
READ MORE: Lawyer questions credibility of Jason Klaus at central Alberta triple-murder trial
Watch below: On Nov. 23, 2017, Fletcher Kent filed this report after Jason Klaus testified in his first-degree murder trial for the third straight day. His co-accused’s lawyer spent the entire day attacking his credibility.
Fay said despite that experience, Frank continued to spend time with Klaus, even meeting him in situations where he knew it would just be the two of them.
“I can’t explain why, but I just did,” Frank said on the witness stand.
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“The why is because none of these things happened. The assaults didn’t happen. The rape didn’t happen,” Fay said.
“I was the one there. I was the one who was raped. Yes it happened,” Frank said.
“We only have your word, no other corroboration. We have to rely on your word,” Fay said.
“Yes,” Frank replied.
Then, Fay took Frank through his testimony of the October 2013 meeting where the topic of killing Klaus’ family came up.
“The man who has beat you and raped you is now uttering words that lead you to believe he wants to kill his family,” Fay said.
“I believed he was blowing off steam. He gets mad at lots of people,” Frank said.
Fay also went over Frank’s testimony about what happened in December 2013, when Frank and Klaus met again at a bar. Frank had testified Klaus was upset and that that night “was a good night, everybody is home.”
“At this point, it was clear Klaus wasn’t blowing off steam. He wanted to do it that night,” Frank’s lawyer said.
“It wasn’t abundantly clear to me. He was blowing off steam – that’s all I perceived it to be… Jason Klaus suggests a lot of things,” Frank said.
Klaus’ lawyer then said testimony from Frank showed the pair went to the Klaus family farm and Klaus got out of the vehicle and walked out of sight.
“You have the perfect opportunty to get out of the situation, jump out of the truck and run like hell. Go to the neighbours. This man is going to kill his parents, call the police,” Fay said.
“I was told not to move. I was scared. I didn’t know what he was going to do,” Frank said.
Klaus’ lawyer then suggested Frank had lots of chances to get away from the scene when he was told to get into a different vehicle but he did not.
Instead, Frank followed Klaus in his vehicle, threw the keys into a ditch and then climbed back into Klaus’ vehicle.
“I asked him what was going on… I wanted to know what happened,” Frank said.
“You didn’t need him to tell you this. You didn’t need to do anything you might think would get this man angry,” Fay said.
“He was already angry. I wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to kow what my chances were of making it through that night,” Frank said.
Frank’s earlier testimony said Klaus told him to “shut the f–k up, I just lost my whole family, I don’t need your bulls–t.”
Klaus’ lawyer then said Frank had every opportunity to turn Klaus in, saying there were phones in his hotel to call police and that if he confessed what he knew to police, he would be safe because Klaus then would be in police custody.
“He’s got friends. I don’t know what I’m thinking at this point… my life was in danger because you never know with him,” Frank said, adding he was scared of repercussions for driving the family truck.
Klaus’ lawyer then outlined how Frank had lied to police about how much he knew about the murders and the arson and how that suggests something bigger.
“On some occasions, yes,” Frank replied.
Later on in the cross-examination, the issue presented itself again after more examples of differences between Frank’s interview with police and his testimony in court.
“Frankly, at the risk of being insulting, I’m suggesting that’s what you do – you lie even if it doesn’t matter,” Fay said.
“I like to cover stuff up for a good portion of my life,” Frank said.
“One of the lies you’re trying to cover up is the murder of the Klaus family,” Fay said.
“I am not lying about not killing those people,” Frank said.
“That’s what you tell us. But you would agree with me – you told police you weren’t lying and you lied,” Klaus’ lawyer said.
“Yes,” Frank replied.
“So you lied about lying,” Fay said.
“At that point, I did, yeah,” Frank said.
As his lawyer had – at times – heated exchanges with Frank, Klaus could be seen in the prisoner’s box, at times shaking his head at Frank’s testimony.
Fay suggested Frank had the opportunty to come clean with police after he was arrested for the triple murder. He said Klaus would not have been a threat because he also would have been arrested and Frank had an opportunity to set the record straight, but again he did not.
Klaus’ lawyer said Frank wasn’t being truthful when he told police he had nothing to hide and had no reason to lie.
“What you had to hide is that you killed the Klaus family and burned the house down,” Fay said.
“I did not kill the Klaus family and I did not burn their house down,” Frank replied.
“We can agree to disagree,” Fay said.
The case was adjourned until Monday, Nov. 27 at 9:30 a.m.
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