Trial underway for man accused in triple murder near Edson
Prosecutors are alleging that a man was “hiding in the darkness” outside an Edson-area home before he carried out a plan to kill and rob the family inside in November 2015.
Mickell Clayton Bailey is on trial for three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his aunt by marriage Roxanne Berube, her boyfriend Daniel Miller and Berube’s 16-year-old daughter, Jazmine Lyon.
Bailey, 21, was first charged with second-degree murder in Miller’s death, but that charge was later upgraded.
In an opening statement, Crown prosecutor John Schmidt said the family of three was having a typical Saturday night when Bailey approached the rural home in Yellowhead County with a sawedoff shotgun he’d acquired earlier that day.
As he drew up to the glass door, Berube crossed in front of it and Bailey fired the gun, hitting her in the face, Schmidt said. Bailey then shot Miller, who was nearby, before entering the home and finding his cousin, Lyon, on the floor near the kitchen island. He shot her, too, Schmidt said.
Then, Bailey took cash, firearms and a television from the residence, Schmidt told court. Bailey cut himself while in the house, and DNA experts will testify to his blood being discovered in multiple locations around the home, as well as in a Dodge Durango he attempted to take but crashed in a ditch on the driveway, the prosecutor said.
A family friend driving past the home the next day saw the Durango in the ditch and discovered the bodies in the home when he went to investigate
Bailey had meanwhile left in his own truck, and in the hours that followed, confessed the killings to four people, Schmidt said, adding he told two of his friends as they sat eating pizza.
Bailey, dressed in a blue-andwhite checked shirt and with close-cropped hair and beard, sat in the prisoner’s box Tuesday, listening as prosecutors began their case. The 21-year-old was airlifted to hospital on Dec. 1, 2015, after being shot in the head by police during his arrest.
Schmidt said an officer fired at Bailey after the accused took a shot at police. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Teams investigated the incident and cleared the officer in 2017.
Police searched Bailey’s grandfather’s home, where the accused was living, and examined a rack of guns in Bailey’s bedroom.
There, they found a firearm known to have belonged to Miller, Schmidt said.
Police at the time said over 30 guns were found in the residence.
Schmidt also showed court a photo that Bailey had allegedly taken of the stolen TV set up in his bedroom. In the reflection on the dark screen, a person holding up a cellphone can be seen.
Schmidt said he anticipates past allegations of domestic violence and custody related to Berube’s ex, who is Bailey’s uncle, may be raised during the trial, but said this is a “red herring,” and said the man will be called to give evidence.
Following Schmidt’s statement, the first police witness was called and officers carried several rifles wrapped in plastic into the courtroom, placing them on a table at the front of the room.
The trial is scheduled to run three weeks.