Jury drama before Saretzky convictions

In an unprecedented move, the 14 jurors hearing the Derek Saretzky triple-murder trial asked Justice William Tilleman to ignore the law and let them all deliberate the accused murderer’s fate.

In a note sent to the Court of Queen’s Bench judge on Monday, but subject to a Criminal Codemandated publication ban until now, the jurors said they had bonded over the course of the three-week trial and wanted to remain together.

But on Wednesday, Tilleman gave the group the bad news.

Under Canadian law, no more than 12 people can deliberate a criminal trial and two would have to be dismissed before the remaining dozen continued to determine Saretzky’s fate.

“My Lord, we as a collective jury request we be allowed to remain a group of 14,” the jurors wrote in their note to Tilleman.

“We feel . . . we have a right to closure.”

After that note was sent to the judge through the court clerk, jurors composed a second missive, requesting a private meeting with the judge and lawyers.

“We humbly ask to discuss the matter of 14 jurors in private with yourself, the defence counsel and the Crown,” they wrote, asking that the meeting be held in the absence of the public and Saretzky.

Such a discussion would be unprecedented in judicial proceedings, as judges never speak to jurors privately during trials and an accused person must always be present during his or her hearing, unless they’ve absconded.

The law allowing extra jurors to sit through trials is relatively new and only used in lengthy trials in which some members of a jury are likely to be dismissed for a variety of reasons, such as health concerns.

As few as 10 people can remain to deliberate an accused’s fate, but no more than 12.

On Wednesday, one woman and one man were randomly drawn to be dismissed before the remaining 12 jury members began deliberations.

Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou noted Tilleman could soften the blow for the two dismissed jurors by letting them know they were free to remain in the courtroom to hear the verdict and any further proceedings.

Saretzky, 24, was convicted of three charges of first-degree murder in the Sept. 9, 2015, killing of Coleman senior Hanne Meketech and the subsequent slayings of Blairmore resident Terry Blanchette and his two-year-old daughter, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, five days later.

During his trial, jurors heard Saretzky confessed to the killings in a series of three interviews conducted by RCMP Staff Sgt. Mike McCauley.

In his initial statement, Saretzky claimed God and the devil directed him to kill the girl, whom he said he choked with a shoelace before committing acts of cannibalism, dismembering her body and burning her remains in a fire pit.

But jurors never heard any evidence of a potential insanity defence. That’s because two courtordered assessments of his mental state found he did not have a defence of not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder, Papadatou told Tilleman during part of the trial when jurors were not present.

In his charge to jurors, Tilleman told them they weren’t to consider that issue.