Handgun’s firing ‘unusual,’ experts testify
Saskatchewan farmer on trial for murder
BATTLE FORD, SASK. •A firearms expert testifying at Gerald Stanley’s seconddegree murder trial told the jury “something unusual happened” when Stanley’s handgun fired on Aug. 9, 2016, but he found no evidence t he handgun was broken.
Sheldon Stanley, Gerald Stanley’s son, previously told court he heard three gunshots on the Stanley farm the day 22- year- old Colten Boushie died. He said he saw his father with a gun in one hand and a magazine in the other. According to him, his father said, “I don’t know what happened. It just went off. I just wanted to scare them.”
Firearms expert Greg Williams, the final Crown witness, told the jury he studied three spent cartridges recovered from Stanley’s farm and determined they had been fired from a Tokarev handgun RCMP seized from Stanley’s house. Forensic analysis found Boushie’s DNA on it.
Tw o cartridges were f ound on the ground in Stanley’s yard, while a third was found in the grey SUV Boushie was sitting in when he was shot.
Williams told the jury the cartridge from the SUV had an “unusual bulge,” but he didn’t know what caused it.
One possible explanation was a mechanical malfunction, but Williams said during cross- examination that the handgun did not appear to be broken.
Williams said a bulge could have been caused by an obstruction in the barrel of the gun, but he did not observe any obstruction. He noted that it could have been blown out by the bullet.
He said another possible explanation was that the ammunition was defective, which could have caused a hang fire — a situation in which there is a perceptible delay between when the trigger is pulled and when the bullet is fired. Williams stressed that such an event is “exceedingly rare” and that any delay would last less than a second.
Defence lawyer Scott Spencer asked whether Stanley’s ammunition — 1953 military surplus stock from Czechoslovakia that had been stored in a shed — could have been degraded. Williams agreed that age and storage are both factors in the degradation of ammunition.
John Ervin, a firearms ex- pert called by the defence, said the bulge on the casing was caused by the bullet firing when the gun was not in battery. In other words, the cartridge was not properly seated in the chamber when it detonated.
Ervin said that, in order for a bulge like the one on the casing to have formed, the gun would have to have been out of alignment to a point where it could not have fired.
“I simply don’t know what caused that firearm to discharge,” he said.
Ervin said one possibility is a hang fire. He said that while these are rare, they are more common with older ammunition.
“There’s not enough evidence to say there was a hang fire, nor is there enough evidence to say there was not a hang fire,” Ervin said.
Court has heard t hat Boushie was one of five people in an SUV that drove onto Stanley’s farm. At least one person got out and hopped onto one of Stanley’s quads. Boushie, who had been drinking that day, was asleep in the SUV. An autopsy report revealed his blood-alcohol level exceeded 300 milligrams per cent.
There are differing witness reports about where Boushie was sitting in the SUV when i t drove onto Stanley’s farm, but forensic evidence indicates he was in the driver seat when he was killed by a single gunshot to the head. The bullet has never been recovered
The Crown wrapped up its case Friday. Spencer asked to delay the delivering of his opening statement until Monday.