Witness at Stanley trial gave conflicting statements
A teenage witness, who was driving the SUV Colten Boushie was riding in on the day of the 22-year-old’s death, said he heard a bullet pass close by his ear but admitted to lying in previous statements.
Farmer Gerald Stanley, 56, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. His trial, which has attracted a huge amount of public attention, began Monday at Battleford’s Court of Queen’s Bench and is scheduled to run until mid-February.
This morning the jury heard evidence from Cassidy Cross-Whitstone, 18. After a morning spent drinking heavily and swimming, his group of friends — including Boushie, Eric Meechance, Belinda Jackson and Kiora Wuttunee — stopped at two farms where he and Meechance attempted to steal vehicles, he testified. At the first stop, Cross-Whitstone said the group simply drove through the yard, but at the second farm he said he tried to break a truck window with the butt of his .22-calibre rifle.
By the time the group arrived at Gerald Stanley’s farm in their grey Ford Escape, Cross said he had “snapped out of” his drunken haze and realized they needed help fixing a flat tire, which was getting progressively worse.