Calling Colten Boushie’s death “a tragedy,” defence lawyer Scott Spencer gave his opening statements Monday and said Gerald Stanley will testify at his murder trial.
Stanley is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Boushie.
Boushie, 22, was fatally shot on Aug. 9, 2016 on Stanley’s farm near Biggar, Sask. after he and four other people in a vehicle drove onto the property.
Scott Spencer’s Opening Statement
“Colten Boushie’s death is a tragedy – there is no doubt about that,” Spencer said during his opening statements.
“This death is not justified legally or morally, it is never right to take somebody’s life but that’s not what this case is about – it is perhaps in the rarest of circumstances appropriate to use lethal force to defend you or your family.
“Colten had a rifle between his legs essentially pointing at Gerry, but Gerry wasn’t aware of that in his panic.”
Spencer said Stanley didn’t go looking for trouble on a day that started with everyone working on the ranch until they faced intruders
He said Stanley faced fear and the unknown that comes with intruders.
“This isn’t about using force to repel threat, it’s not about that,” Spencer stated.
“This is really not a murder case at all, this is a case about what can go terribly wrong when you create a situation which is really a nature of a home invasion.
“For farm people, your yard is your castle and that’s part of the story here.”
Spencer said although the young people involved aren’t on trial, they created a panic situation for Stanley.
“That’s what this case comes down to is when you’re in a situation when you have intruders and you don’t have the luxury of being able to wait for police assistance – this case comes down to what is reasonable in that circumstance.”
Spencer told jurors there is a self-defence factor and that part of it is reasonableness and what you can do to protect yourself in those circumstances.
“It’s not reasonable to start shooting people but that’s not what happened. The question, is it reasonable to yell at them? Absolutely in my respect.”
“Is it reasonable to hit the windshield? That might more be debatable?
“Is it reasonable to fire warning shots when they won’t leave?
“So is it unreasonable to fire warning shots when intruders have tried to steal, they tried to take a run at you with their vehicle, crashed into your vehicle from Gerry’s perspective intentionally, almost run over your wife – is it reasonable to fire warning shots to get them to just leave – that’s what it comes down to in many ways.”
Spencer said the case comes down to a freak accident that occurred during a scary situation for the Stanley family.
“The young people they were vandalizing stuff but they didn’t really think they were threatening anybody but when you start doing that stuff and the crash, whether the crash was intentional or not, when you start doing that stuff it creates fear,” Spencer stated.
“So that creates a situation where it’s reasonable to fire a warning, how did he get shot? It’s a freak accident, hang fires happen and that’s what happened here.”
Kim Worthington Testifies – Defence’s Second Witness
After opening statements, the executive director of a Saskatoon youth ministry took the stand.
Kim Worthington told court he was at the Ranger Lake Bible Camp, not far from Stanley’s property, on the day of the shooting.
He said the camp has a paintball range in a community pasture and recalled it being the one day ideal for the activity which is why they stayed longer.
Worthington testified that as they approached the road at the end of the day, “I just remember a Ford Escape cruising past.”,
He remembered although the SUV was moving fast, it was in rough shape – dragging its muffler, creating noise and lacking a proper tire.
Worthington estimates the vehicle was driving at 90 km/h and was out of sight pretty quickly after that.
Wayne Popowich Takes the Stand
Wayne Popowich told court he didn’t know Gerald Stanley and disagreed with a gun expert called to testify at this trial.
According to Popowich, approximately 40 years ago when he was 15, he was hunting gophers south of Wynyard using a single shot .22-caliber rifle.
He told court he pulled the trigger and nothing happened, tried again, nothing.
Popowich said he then went for another bullet, pulled the hammer and the gun went off seven to eight seconds later – resulting not only in a bulge in the bullet but splitting the bullet open.
There was extensive testimony from two gun experts on Friday who tried to determine why there was a bulge in a cartridge casing pulled from the SUV that Boushie was in on that fateful day.
During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Bill Burge asked Popwich about the incident and how often the rifle was used.
Popowich testified it wasn’t used often and wasn’t cleaned internally. He also couldn’t say at the time of the alleged hang fire if the problem was the ammunition or the gun itself.
More Hang Fire Testimony
According to Nathan Voinorosky, who took the stand, while he said he isn’t a gun expert, he learned the procedure for dealing with hang fires through hunter safety training.
Voinorosky told court that a hang fire is the delayed firing of a gun and that his manual suggests to wait 60 seconds from the initial click.
He also told jurors that he had experienced hang fires while shooting targets. During one of those times he fired three rounds, pulled the trigger and heard the hammer hit the pin but it didn’t go off. He waited five seconds, lowered the rifle muzzle to the ground and it went off into the ground.
Voinorosky testified that approximately seven seconds went by between the trigger being pulled and firing.
The Fouhy Farm
Court heard last week that prior to driving onto the Stanley property, the SUV with Boushie and four others had stopped at Fouhy farm where someone tried to break into a truck.
Murray Fouhy said he was in a pasture putting a water trough up and upon his return to the yard, his mother told him there were people in the yard.
He told court his truck had the top ripped off the console, the keys were in the ignition and it wouldn’t start.
His dad’s truck had also been damaged at a cost of more than $4,000.
Murray Fouhy told court he recalled seeing tracks in the yard and thinking someone was driving with a flat tire.
Earlier testimony and photos presented in court showed the SUV that Boushie was in that day had a flat tire.
Glennis Fouhy Testifies
Glennis Fouhy said she recalled hearing a loud vehicle in an adjacent yard before it came across the yard she was in.
She initially thought there had been an accident and someone need help. She said she looked out the dining room window and saw a man leave the vehicle and go up to another vehicle in the yard.
Another young man got out of the passenger-side back seat and went into the garage where her car was parked.
She didn’t recognize the person that got out of the vehicle.
“It was a young native man, well-dressed and clean cut, but I didn’t really see his face.”
According to Glennis Fouhy, he was wearing a collared beige shirt with long sleeves and pants.
He went into her Lexus when the SUV pulled up to the garage. He left the garage and got into the vehicle before it was driven across the back lawn.
Glennis testified that she heard “banging metal” and noticed the damage on the red Dodge truck, the door was also open on a nearby Suzuki.
After the vehicle left westward, Fouhy told court she checked the vehicle and tried to call her son and husband unsuccessfully before calling the RCMP.
At the time, Glennis testified she called Battleford RCMP, Warman RCMP and Biggar RCMP, and that Biggar RCMP were the only ones who answered.
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