Man convicted in Mayerthorpe RCMP killings cancels hearing
One of the men convicted for helping James Roszko kill four RCMP officers outside Mayerthorpe has cancelled his parole hearing.
Dennis Cheeseman, 29, requested that the Parole Board of Canada cancel a hearing in April that could have granted him full parole or day parole, board spokeswoman Michelle Goring said Friday. Another hearing has not yet been slated, but Cheeseman is scheduled for statutory release in November after two-thirds of his sentence has been served.
He was previously denied day parole in May 2011, when board members told him there were too many “outstanding issues” for them to consent to his request.
“What you said was meant to please us,” Cheeseman was told. “You gave the answers that were the least incriminating to you.”
Cheeseman and his brotherin-law, Shawn Hennessey, each pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter in 2009 for their roles in the killings of RCMP constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston and Anthony Gordon in the early hours of March 3, 2005.
The four were gunned down nine hours after Cheeseman and Hennessey dropped Roszko off at his farm near Mayerthorpe, about 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
When Roszko came to Hennessey’s residence armed with a handgun on the night of the murders, Hennessey gave him a rifle and a box of ammunition. Cheeseman wore a pair of gloves to put the rifle in a pillowcase. Roszko told Hennessey and Cheeseman he planned to burn down his Quonset hut, where officers were investigating stolen vehicles and a small marijuana operation. The parole board specifically told Cheeseman that no one should have believed that.
Roszko killed himself after shooting the officers.
When they were sentenced in January 2009, Hennessey and Cheeseman were given credit for their guilty pleas and time spent in remand custody. Cheeseman had just over seven years left to serve of his 12-year sentence.
Hennessey was denied parole in April 2012. When he was sentenced, Hennessey was given a 15-year term and had 10 years and four months left to serve.