Davis Whitehead's murder trial was initally held in the fall of 2018. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Crime

New trial ordered for Red Earth Cree Nation murder

Feb 15, 2022 | 3:00 PM

A little more than five years after a man’s death on the Red Earth Cree Nation, a new trial has been ordered for the man who was found guilty of first degree murder.

On Nov. 9, 2018, Davis Whitehead was sentenced to life in person for the December 2016 death of Ramsey Whitehead.

The eight-day trial was held at Court of Queen’s Bench in Melfort and the 14-person jury had deliberated for about two hours before returning with a guilty verdict.

Alleging issues with witness testimony and claiming a failure by the Crown to prove deliberation and intent needed for a first degree murder conviction, Davis’s appeal was heard by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in late 2021.

Evidence heard during trial

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According to the testimony of Cpl. Jason Brown, who works in the Forensic Identification Section of the Saskatchewan RCMP, Ramsey’s body was found with two stab wounds in his chest and one on his cheek on Red Earth Cree Nation a few hours after the incident.

After initially going to the home of the victim, and allegedly engaging in a fist fight, Davis tossed Ramsey to the floor, before leaving without his jacket. Davis then went to a nearby address where he stabbed a man with a knife. The injuries would require two stitches.

Between the two houses, Davis would also engage in a verbal disagreement with another man, threatening to fight him.

Approximately 30 minutes after leaving Ramsay’s residence, Davis then returned and stabbed him “two or three times.” Ramsey died almost immediately.

Contentious issues

As part of the Crown’s case, they called on people who were in the home during the first assault to testify, arguing the stabbing incidents were similar in nature and was part of the larger narrative of the night’s events. Crown counsel also submitted that planning and deliberation could not be proven in any other way.

Defence argued the only similarity between the incidents was that the accused was responsible for stabbing both victims, adding too there was no crossover of witnesses from one house to the other.

During a voir dire (a trial within a trial), the trial judge determined that jury could hear about the alleged incident and assault at the other residence, concluding the information was more probative than prejudicial.

However, the Court of Appeal would not see it this way and in a decision written by Justice Georgina Jackson and concurred with by Justices Jerome Tholl and Jacelyn Ryan-Froslie, the trial judge erred by finding that the probative value of the first victim outweighed the prejudicial effect of weighing the evidence.

“Since we cannot know what the jury did with the other potential evidence of planning and deliberation, a new trial must take place,” she said.

Dates for the new trial have not yet been set.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell