Crown stays murder charges against two men

Murder charges have been stayed in relation to two men who had been accused of taking part in the 2014 beating death of Shawn Douglas.

Written stays of proceedings were filed at Regina Court of Queen’s Bench by the Crown on Wednesday, effectively bringing to an end charges against 21-year-old Aiden Anaquod and a 19-year-old man who was a youth at the time of the Aug. 7, 2014, homicide.

Stays allow the Crown a year to reopen a case, but that step is rarely taken.

Both men had testified at the trial for three men — Johnathon Nelson Peepeetch, Dennis Calvin Thompson and Joshua Duane Wilson.

The three men were charged with first-degree murder, accused in the confinement and brutal beating death of 54-year-old Douglas. A Regina Court of Queen’s Bench jury ultimately found all three men guilty as charged.

All three have filed appeals. Until this week, Anaquod and the youth had faced their own firstdegree murder charges and each had trials pending.

Reasons for the stays were not stated on the documents filed. But, in an emailed statement, a Saskatchewan Justice spokesman said a number of factors are generally taken into account when the Crown decides to stay charges, such as “the accused’s forthrightness and assistance with the investigation, the significance of the testimony when seen after the fact, the degree of involvement the accused played in the crime, the specific circumstances of the crime, as well as the accused’s personal history and situation.”

Noel Busse pointed out neither Anaquod nor the youth was promised anything in return for their co-operation “beyond the consideration of these things in their own proceedings.”

“Sometimes, when someone involved in a crime stands up and provides a forthright witness account about what happened and who played the central roles in a crime, prosecutions decide to seek a lesser sentence or discontinue the proceedings,” Busse said.

“Many crimes — especially those involving serious personal injury or death — have few independent witnesses and we must try to discourage the instigators by increasing the prospect of them being held properly accountable,” he continued/

Both men provided testimony they were among a group of people present when Douglas was taken out to a treed area near Zehner, and both said they were present in the bush when Douglas — a pipefitter by trade — was beaten to death with his own tools.

Court heard Douglas was targeted for robbery and was assaulted and confined during a house party on Toronto Street.

He was eventually taken to one of two vehicles and was soon after forced into the trunk of a car before being driven out of town where he was killed.