Gerald Stanley Not Guilty

[Tecumsehsbones]

Yelling racism at everyone and blaming "the system" does nothing to improve the situation, and never will.

It did when Dr. King did it.

 

[JLM]

Physician, heal thyself. You're being every bit as insulting as I am. Relax and enjoy the hostility.

I know you think your advanced years entitle you to respect. And they do. Too bad you use it all up on being a dullard.

Well, when it comes to dullards you'd be one who would know!

 

[Twin_Moose]

Alberta RCMP say shooting happened when rural homeowner confronted suspects

Police say members from their detachment in Okotoks were called to the property at around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday.
They say that during the confrontation between the owner and the suspects, an unknown number of shots were fired before the suspects fled.
Later, police found one person with an injury to his arm, but police were still seeking a second person on Sunday.
Last fall, Alberta's Opposition called for an emergency debate in the legislature to deal with rural crime and the subject came up following this month's acquittal of a Saskatchewan farmer in the shooting death of an Indigenous man on his property.

Police urge people to report, not engage

But police are urging people not to pursue or engage with suspicious individuals and to instead immediately report incidents.
"We encourage property owners to not attempt to pursue or subdue any suspects, with the main reason, public safety. We don't want to see people getting hurt," Sgt. Shawn French said Sunday.
"We're trained to handle these situations. We do treat them as priority calls and we try to get there in as most expeditious manner as possible."
French said the investigation into Saturday's incident is ongoing and information wasn't available on whether it was the homeowner or the suspects who fired the shots. He also did not have information on whether a firearm has been seized as part of the investigation.
French wouldn't speculate on whether the homeowner would face charges.
The suspect who was apprehended was taken to hospital and is expected to recover, police said. They noted there is no danger to the public.

Rural crime hot topic

Rural crime on the Prairies, and what landowners are allowed to do about it, has come up a lot recently.
A crowdfunding website for Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley, who was acquitted last month of second-degree murder in the death of Colten Boushie, has raised over $223,000.
The jury heard that Boushie and some friends had been drinking before they broke into a truck on one farm, then headed onto Stanley's property to ask for help for a flat tire. Stanley testified that he thought his ATV was being stolen.
After firing warning shots, he said his gun went off accidentally, striking Boushie in the head as he sat in the group's SUV.
In the year following Boushie's death, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities called for the federal government to expand the rights and justification for people to defend themselves, people under their care and their property. Both Ottawa and Saskatchewan officials dismissed the idea.
Meanwhile, an Alberta man, Daniel Wayne Newsham, will face a manslaughter trial in December after police allege he was involved in a fatal collision that happened when he pursued a truck stolen from a rural property in August 2016.
Stanley Dick, who was the lone occupant of the truck, died in the crash.

Landowners complain about police response time

Some landowners have noted that calling police is ineffective because officers are far away and criminals are long gone by the time the authorities arrive.
French, however, noted police arrived quickly in Saturday's incident.
"It's my understanding that in this instance specifically, from the time that we received the dispatch, we were on scene from within five to seven minutes," he said.

 

[justlooking]

Some landowners have noted that calling police is ineffective because officers are far away and criminals are long gone by the time the authorities arrive.

It's like Detroit. When seconds count, the police are an hour away.

 

[Colpy]

It's like Detroit. When seconds count, the police are an hour away.

I saw a bumper sticker down south once:

Why do I carry a Gun?

Because a cop is too heavy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: the Stanley trial.......

By coincidence, an e-mail forwarded to the membership from the President of our gun club:

Sent: Monday, February 26, 2018 9:49 AM
To: XXXXX XXX
Subject: Big thanks

Hey XXXX - thought I’d share a thank you to you and the guys who taught the safety course back in December.
I had a hang fire when out shooting last week - thought it was probably just a failure to load in my .22 (I’ve been having issues with it) but left it pointed down range and started counting to sixty. At 48 seconds it fired.
If it hadn’t been for you guys and that course God knows I probably wouldn’t have thought to wait that long.
Thanks for saving my butt.
XXXXXXX

Sent from phone

 

[DaSleeper]

A squib is just a dangerous....maybe even more....

 

[captain morgan]

What's a squib?

 

[DaSleeper]

What's a squib?

A cartridge with not enough powder or no powder...
If you're lucky you will see the bullet bounce off the wall or on the floor in front of you...
it's easy enough for the shooter to notice the different sound of the gunshot report
If you make the mistake of shooting again without checking the gun barrel is clear... there is danger to yourself and anyone shooting besides you...
Follow the same rules as a misfire before checking your gun barrel is encouraged

 

[Twin_Moose]

Poll finds Canadians divided over verdict in Colten Boushie case

A new poll by Angus Reid says Canadians are divided over the decision made by the jury in the Colten Boushie case.
Boushie, 22, was shot and killed on a Saskatchewan farm in July 2016.

A jury found Gerald Stanley not guilty of second-degree murder.
The poll released Tuesday by Angus Reid said 32 per cent of those surveyed who knew about the case found the verdict “flawed and wrong.” Another 30 per cent said the decision was “good and fair” while the largest group – 38 per cent – were unsure.
However in Saskatchewan, 63 per cent of those surveyed said the jury’s decision was fair, with 17 per cent saying it was wrong and 21 per cent saying they were undecided.
Figures may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding.

After the verdict was rendered, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country’s justice system must do better in the future as he expressed his sympathy to the Boushie family.
Nearly half of those polled – 46 per cent – said Trudeau’s comments were inappropriate, with 32 per cent saying the comments were appropriate and 22 per cent undecided.
When it comes to jury reform, 59 per cent agreed with the statement “we should reform these rules to ensure juries reflect the whole community better.”
Much was made of the fact that no one on the jury in the Stanley trial was Indigenous.
The federal government is now considering modifications to jury selection, including the rules for peremptory challenges, which allows each legal team to excluding any would-be juror without having to provide a reason.

The Angus Reid survey was conducted on Feb. 18 and 19 of 2,501 adults who are members of the Angus Reid forum.
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The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Did Trudeau cross a line commenting on the Stanley verdict?

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

They went on that farm drunk off their asses with an intention to steal. Teach your children not to drink and drive and leave what is not theirs alone. That's a simple rule that kept me from getting shot my entire life. Except for that one time I looked down the barrel of a 303 being held by a native gentleman who said I was camping on reserve land.

You know what I did? I apologized for the mistake and I packed up my camping gear.

 

[JLM]

They went on that farm drunk off their asses with an intention to steal. Teach your children not to drink and drive and leave what is not theirs alone. That's a simple rule that kept me from getting shot my entire life. Except for that one time I looked down the barrel of a 303 being held by a native gentleman who said I was camping on reserve land.

You know what I did? I apologized for the mistake and I packed up my camping gear.

What you've done here is identified a lot of common sense, which wasn't put to use in their arguments of discrimination. With the Tina Fontaine case, I don't necessarily disagree that the right person was charged............I simply don't know either way. With very little or no direct evidence, do we really want to head down the same path we were led down with David Milgaard? How soon we forget!

 

[Twin_Moose]

Rural landowners rally around Okotoks man charged in shooting

Ranchers in the foothills are standing behind an Okotoks man charged after shots were fired when two intruders came onto his property over the weekend.
Police said Edouard Maurice, who faces charges of aggravated assault, pointing a firearm and careless use of a firearm, had a confrontation with two alleged trespassers early Saturday morning.
Shots were fired and Ryan Watson, now facing trespassing and possession charges, was transported to hospital with a gunshot to his arm.
The incident has some locals fired up, saying rural break-ins are becoming far more common.
“Five years ago even, this wouldn’t have been a problem,” said Mary Reimers, who lives outside of Okotoks. “It’s shocking,” she said, adding that criminals are becoming more brazen, stealing vehicles and breaking into buildings in broad daylight.

Jamea Minue agreed with Reimers, saying there have been two recent break-ins near her property. She said her family has stepped up security by installing surveillance equipment, flood lights and reinforced doors. They’ve even bought a guard dog.
“In the old days you’d just get in your car or horse trailer or whatever, you’d just drive off and leave everything open and go do your thing,” Minue said. “Now . . . everything needs to be locked.”
Minue said property owners outside of town are an easy target for criminals, and landowners have few options when faced with an intruder.
“What, are we supposed to sit back and let these thieves come in?” she said. “I mean, I don’t blame the RCMP, they can only go so fast and do what they can do. But you’re supposed to sit there, watch them come in and threaten your family, take your stuff and just say, ‘can you come help me?’ ”
She said she feels Maurice should never have been charged, and punishing the homeowner only lets thieves know that victims have no way to protect themselves.
Kevin Avram, a director with the Grassroots Alberta Landowners Association, said the charges against Maurice only embolden criminals.
“It’s a message to criminals that they have carte blanche,” Avram said. “The RCMP and the system is sending signals to all these criminals that they can come on our property.”
The RCMP said rural detachments in Alberta have seen a 16 per cent increase in Criminal Code offences over the past five years.
But it’s not just people living on the outskirts of Okotoks who have noticed an uptick in crime, with some businesses reporting an increased number of encounters with criminals.
The owners of Boot Hill Gallery said vandalism and break-ins along Elizabeth Street have become more common over the past few years, and Stuart Gardner, a salesman at Cycle Works Motorsports, said his customers are often the victims of thieves.

Gardner said he remembers one customer who only had his new off-road vehicle for a weekend before it was stolen. Cycle Works Motorsport was broken into last summer, and Gardner said a number of vehicles were stolen and never recovered.
“We do see quite a lot of people coming in with the same story — my unit got stolen, my unit got stolen,” Gardner said. “So, yeah, we do see that quite a lot and it seems to have gone up recently.”
Watson is charged with trespassing by night, mischief to property and theft under $5,000 from a motor vehicle, possession of methamphetamine and failure to comply with probation.
As for his injury, Minue and Reimers had little sympathy for the accused.
“Poor muffin got shot in the arm stealing somebody’s stuff?” Minue said. “Just too bad.”

 

[Twin_Moose]

First Nation on edge over hit-and-run death

SAINT-CHARLES, N.B. - A grieving New Brunswick First Nation is anxiously awaiting the results of a police probe into the hit-and-run death of a popular young man, with many saying they are seeking a justice they felt was eluded in the killings of Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine.
Brady Francis, 22, was hit by a pickup truck Saturday as he departed a party in Saint-Charles, a predominantly francophone town about 12 kilometres south of the Elsipogtog reserve.
Social media posts were circulating Wednesday with pictures of Fontaine, Boushie and Francis side by side, and many were tweeting #justiceforbrady, echoing hashtags used after the recent jury verdicts on the Prairies.
"I'm just saying that I hope history doesn't repeat itself," Garnett Augustine, Francis's employer, said Wednesday.
Ruth Levi, a band councillor and the director of social services in Elsipogtog, said in an interview the Mi'kmaq community is calling for charges in the death.
"We're hurting, we left a very fine, wonderful young man. Our youth are hurting, the whole community is," said the 57-year-old community leader in a telephone interview.
"We're keeping an eye out for the results of the police investigation."
She said community members attended a fundraiser Monday evening at CC's Entertainment Centre on the reserve to raise over $31,000 for funeral expenses for the young man's funeral.
Many people will be wearing white T-shirts with the logo "Justice For Brady," at a funeral planned for Saturday, she added.
Levi was among the community members who drove to the scene on Saturday night in Saint-Charles.
Word rapidly spread that a GMC pickup truck had struck Francis as he walked away from an evening gathering.
Levi said family members have informed her that Francis had called his father, asking for a drive home and that the young man was awaiting the arrival of his relatives to bring him home.
Augustine, Francis's employer at the entertainment centre, said he rushed to the scene after the incident, and witnessed paramedics trying to revive the young man he referred to as "my little right-hand man."
Like Levi, Augustine said community members are deeply concerned by the death, and are eager to know precisely what occurred.
"I'm hoping for justice," he said, adding that the recent not guilty verdicts in the 2016 death of Boushie in Saskatchewan and the 2014 death of Fontaine in Winnipeg are on the minds of many in the First Nation community.
"It's hard. The whole community is shattered," he said.
Said one Twitter user: "All we can do is pray that Canada gets this one right."
Only scant details have been made available so far about what occurred.
Police said in a news release on Tuesday that Francis was "a pedestrian" in Saint-Charles, N.B., on the evening when he was struck.
RCMP initially said they found a GMC truck sign at the scene, and have since seized a truck as part of the investigation.
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The Mounties also said in a news release they are analyzing a key piece of evidence and have been conducting interviews.
Still, emotions have been running high, said Levi.
She said she and about 40 other community residents went to the house of the alleged driver of the truck on the morning after the incident.
Francis's grandfather urged the crowd to disperse, and Levi helped to arrange a candlelight vigil on the reserve.
"We're preparing for Saturday's funeral ... Brady's body will be home tomorrow and we'll get the crisis team ready," she said.
"This young man took the appropriate steps to come home. He called his parents ... and while he's talking to his Dad, all of a sudden the phone goes dead. That's something we don't want people to forget," she said.

Investigation isn't even finished yet and cries over justice is already being touted

 

[JLM]

First Nation on edge over hit-and-run death



Investigation isn't even finished yet and cries over justice is already being touted

No but the trial for the murder charge is, as of course it should be!

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

They went on that farm drunk off their asses with an intention to steal. Teach your children not to drink and drive and leave what is not theirs alone. That's a simple rule that kept me from getting shot my entire life. Except for that one time I looked down the barrel of a 303 being held by a native gentleman who said I was camping on reserve land.

You know what I did? I apologized for the mistake and I packed up my camping gear.

And with that simple bit of youthful wisdom, RCS went on to have about the most amazing life anybody ever imagined!

See, kids? It's the simple, everyday decisions that really decide your fate.

 

[JLM]

They went on that farm drunk off their asses with an intention to steal. Teach your children not to drink and drive and leave what is not theirs alone. That's a simple rule that kept me from getting shot my entire life. Except for that one time I looked down the barrel of a 303 being held by a native gentleman who said I was camping on reserve land.

You know what I did? I apologized for the mistake and I packed up my camping gear.

You've hit the nail right on the head. There's just no arguing with common sense!

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

And with that simple bit of youthful wisdom, RCS went on to have about the most amazing life anybody ever imagined!

See, kids? It's the simple, everyday decisions that really decide your fate.

Actually, it was only semi-amazing.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Actually, it was only semi-amazing.

Bull. I've seen pictures of your wife, your home, your part-time job, and your books.

I've had a semi-amazing life. You hit the lottery.

 

[spaminator]

Bell: It’s fear and loathing in rural Alberta over brazen hoodlums | Toronto Sun

 

[Decapoda]

Colten Boushie shooting: No appeal will be filed in Gerald Stanley case, says prosecutions office

On Wednesday in Regina, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Anthony Gerein announced the public prosecutions office saw “no basis” for doing so.

“The Crown cannot appeal because some people have questions about how the investigation was done or what the lawyers did,” Gerein told reporters.

“I know there is much sadness over the decision not to appeal,” he continued. “That is unfortunate, but there can be no appeal because the law does not allow it.”

“There is no basis for concluding the judge said or did anything that would justify an appeal,” he said. The trial judge was Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Martel Popescul.

The Boushie family “is not taking the news well,” according to their lawyer, Chris Murphy. He said the first words Boushie’s mother uttered when she heard there would be no appeal were, “This isn’t the end of the fight.

“I feel terrible for Indigenous people in this province who are part of this justice system,” Murphy said. “The justice system in the province is broken and needs to be fixed. The family is going to keep fighting.”

Murphy said he was disappointed by the decision, but not surprised. Vice Chief Heather Bear of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations expressed similar thoughts, saying the decision left her “disheartened.”

“I’m disappointed but I’m not alarmed,” she said. “We’ve been here before when it comes to matters of justice for Indigenous people, especially our youth.”
--

It was pretty obvious that failing a challenge due to lack of legal procedure, there would be no basis for, and therefore no chance for appeal. Any chance that there may have been was likely blown out of the water by Trudeau and his hopeless Justice Minister showing complete lack of discretion or self-control and injecting their personal ideological bias into it, and undermining a jury decision with their opinion.

My fear is that Justine and the Liberals will use this as a platform to demonstrate their virtue and tinker with the justice system, in particular, jury selection processes. While I have no problem making changes if necessary, using this as an excuse to make changes based on a flawed perspective of perceived racism will only divide us as a country more and take us further from the apparent goal of "truth and reconciliation", not closer.