Lynessa Highway, 20, was escorted by her mother as she left Prince Albert Court of King's Bench on Wednesday. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Court proceedings

Highway manslaughter trial adjourned to April

Jan 25, 2023 | 5:00 PM

Editor’s note: this story contains graphic details

The two-hour statement a young woman accused of manslaughter provided to police is now in the hands of a judge.

Lynessa Highway’s trial at Court of King’s Bench has been adjourned to April 6, for a voir dire decision on whether the statement can be admitted as evidence.

On the night of Oct 10, 2020, the 20-year-old is alleged to have shot and killed Adam Pelletier. Both were 18 at the time. The victim’s mother April Roberts has been in court all week listening to testimony, and placed her head in her hands after hearing about the lengthy adjournment.

“It’s killing me like every time they adjourn it. It makes it longer for me to be able to get on with my life. I need some closure,” Roberts told reporters outside the courthouse.

Federal force

Saskatchewan RCMP facing 14.6 per cent vacancy rate amid national staffing shortages

6h ago

Provincial Politics

NDP calls out government over highway budget cuts

7h ago

Drug bust

Meth and other contraband seized at Sask. Pen.

7h ago

Adam Pelletier. (submitted photo/April Roberts)

On the night of the shooting, witnesses have described a sort of house party gathering between friends and claimed Highway invited Pelletier. At least one witness recalled seeing Pelletier pull a gun out of a duffel bag, and play around with it. It’s alleged that same gun suddenly went off while being passed back and forth between Pelletier and Highway, who were sitting on a couch together.

Another witness recalled seeing Pelletier and another person at the party taking pictures of their “flags” which is in reference to gang affiliation.

When asked about the testimony, the grieving mother admitted to feeling confused but added she does not believe her son brought a gun to the party.

“I don’t wanna know that he had a gun,” she said, while crying. “I actually dropped him off and he didn’t have a bag.”

The Crown’s final witness, Juliana Young, was at the party and is a close friend to Highway. She described how Pelletier had been showing others how to load the gun, even encouraging them to shoot the washer and dryer.

“[Lynessa] didn’t want to shoot but he was like ‘Just try it,'” Young said in court.

Young testified Pelletier and Highway were arguing about something while they sat on the couch with each other. But Young said she didn’t know what the argument was about.

Earlier in the night, when Highway was out of the room, Pelletier confessed to Young he loved Highway and wanted to be with her.

While it’s not exactly clear what happened when the gun was being passed back and forth between Highway and Pelletier, the gun went off and Pelletier was shot in the chest area. Young said everyone first looked at the washer and dryer for the gunshot, then realized Pelletier had been badly injured.

“His body went lifeless,” she said, adding over the next few minutes Pelletier’s skin colour went from green to purple to white.

Young said Highway had been holding the gun but dropped it immediately before holding Pelletier, trying to wake him up.

Police were called soon after. Young said she went to leave the basement of the home, but was met at the top of the stairs by one of Pelletier’s friends. She said the man pulled out his own gun, pointed it at Young’s head and demanded to know what happened.

“I told him they were playing with a gun and it went off,” Young said, adding when she looked back down the stairs there was a large puddle of blood on the floor and Highway was crying.

Cross-examination

Throughout her testimony, Young appeared very tired and distracted which defence lawyer Ron Piche seized on. When he asked Young if she had had anything to drink that day, she replied no and explained she had a long night.

Piche raised some concerns with Young’s testimony, citing several contradictions between the statement she gave to police and the one she provided in court. One such statement was when Young told police she had blacked out during the shooting and did not see what happened.

To this, Young acknowledged her memory was likely better at the time of the incident.

According to testimony on Tuesday from Highway’s other friend Nina Custer, there were only three people in the basement at the time of the shooting — herself, Highway and Pelletier.

“I was there,” Young said.

After being excused from the witness box, Young was overheard speaking briefly to Highway who was sitting in the front row of the gallery. Young encouraged Highway to text her when she got home.

—

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell