Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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CONTENT WARNING: The following story contains graphic depictions that might be disturbing to some readers.
The jury has headed into deliberations to decide the fate of Roderick Sutherland, the final person to come before the courts over the killing of Megan Gallagher.
Sutherland is on trial for manslaughter, unlawful confinement and offering an indignity to human remains. He is one of nine people arrested in connection with her murder.
According to the agreed statement of facts presented in court, Gallagher was killed between Sept. 20, and Sept 21, 2020, in a garage on Weldon Avenue where Sutherland lived. Her body was then put in the back of a truck and thrown off the St. Louis Bridge into the South Saskatchewan River.
On Thursday, Justice John Morrall provided legal instructions on how to apply the law. The jury of seven women and five men will be sequestered until a unanimous verdict is reached.
“You must make your decision based on all the evidence presented to you in the courtroom and only on that evidence,” Morrall told the jury.
Morrall said the presumption of Sutherland’s innocence remains throughout the case unless the Crown proves Sutherland’s innocence beyond a reasonable doubt.
Morrall told the jury not to jump to conclusions based entirely on how a witness has testified.
“You may believe a witness, disbelieve a witness,” Morrall said, and noted the jury should not solely rely on testimony but to take into account other exhibits in the trial.
Testimony throughout the trial came from multiple people, including Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce and Robert Thomas.
Peeteetuce, who was sentenced to seven years for manslaughter in the case, repeatedly told the jury that she did not recall the night Gallagher was killed, nor could she remember why she pleaded guilty to the charge.
She said Gallagher was a Facebook friend that she didn’t know for long, and said Sutherland was in the Weldon Avenue garage the night Gallagher was killed; however was unable to identify Sutherland in the courtroom.
A key witness who spoke during the trial was Thomas, who is serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Gallagher.
Thomas said that the garage had a party atmosphere with multiple people the night Gallagher was killed, but at some point, the mood changed throughout the night and she was eventually tied to a chair with extension cords.
Part of Thomas’ testimony included the recollection of Sutherland having knuckle busters on his hand, and that he had hit Gallagher.
During closing arguments, Crown prosecutor William Burge said testimony from Thomas was consistent with a timeline outlined in the agreed statement of facts presented in court, and noted that Sutherland’s statement to police in 2021 was inconsistent.
Defence lawyer Blaine Beaven argued that other witnesses who testified were not credible or reliable and said that Sutherland “feels a terrible weight on his shoulders” and that “it’s colouring his memory of what occurred.”
More to come…
