Jury hears evidence about Facebook posts
Portions of the evidence disclosed to Kaz Henry Cox after he was charged with firstdegree murder in November 2019 were posted on his and his girlfriend’s Facebook pages two months later, the jury at his trial heard Friday.
Cox, 43, is accused of shooting Triston Reece on Scot Street in Halifax on July 26, 2019, at 5:32 p.m. The 19-year-old Halifax man died in hospital early the next morning.
Cox’s trial got underway May 9 in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Dartmouth.
Halifax Regional Police Det. Const. Jennifer Lake, the lead investigator in the case, testified Friday.
Lake told the court she was advised by another officer in January 2020 that portions of Cox’s disclosure identifying two people who had talked to police had been posted on Facebook.
After viewing the posts herself, Lake said she brought the matter to the attention of the other two members of the investigative triangle, telling them “we have a problem.”
“Disclosure had been made public, and I had concerns for that,” Lake said. “I wanted to then call the people that were affected by the posting.”
The two individuals whose names were in the disclosure documents posted on Facebook were Rulla Cox, Kaz’s estranged wife, and Jason Weagle, who was her boss at a Spryfield pizza shop and was friends with Kaz.
Rulla Cox testified last week that Weagle had given her
his Pontiac G5 to drive. She said Kaz got her to change the licence plate on the vehicle in her driveway about an hour before the shooting and that he drove away in the car just before 4:45 p.m.
The Crown alleges Cox returned to the street, pulled up beside Reece’s Ford Focus, which was parked near Rulla’s driveway, and shot him five times with some type of .22-calibre firearm. Two of the bullets struck Reece in the left temple and passed into his brain.
Cox is accused of then driving the Pontiac to the South Shore and setting it on fire in a remote area off Aylesford Road in Kings County, about eight kilometres from the Lunenburg County line.
Rulla also said Kaz later told her to have the vehicle reported stolen. Weagle contacted his insurance company July 30, 2019, to make a theft claim and called police at some point to report the vehicle stolen.
Lake said her first concern about the Facebook posts was that “this exposure might cause
some safety issues” for Rulla Cox and Weagle.
“In certain circles, when you provide information to the police, it’s not looked upon very (favourably),” the detective said.
She said she reached Rulla Cox right away and that she already knew about the posts.
“She was not happy,” Lake said. “She was angry about what had been posted. She was afraid of the repercussions and she told me she had taken some actions already in response to the posting.”
She said it took her longer to get hold of Weagle, who was unaware of the posts. “He was angry, and he was concerned for his family,” she recalled.
Police photos of the Jan. 16 posts and Kaz Cox’s and Miranda Taylor’s Facebook pages were entered into evidence at the trial. Lake noted that Rulla was tagged in the posts, meaning she would have gotten a notification.
The post on Taylor’s Facebook page was accompanied by a message: “Watch who you marry could end up wit a life sentence when you go for divorce.”
While Lake was on the stand, recordings of three phone calls Kaz Cox placed to Taylor from the Northeast Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Pictou County in January 2020 were played for the jury.
Taylor was driving when she took the first call from Cox on Jan. 16. She stopped her vehicle and posted the material to their Facebook pages at the direction of Cox, who encouraged her to tag Rulla.
Cox also told Taylor to text photos of the police disclosure to three specific cellphone numbers. One of those numbers was Weagle’s.
“It’s gonna get hot,” Cox said.
During a Jan. 28 call, they talked about people Cox wanted added as his Facebook friends and about the need for Taylor to repost and share the disclosure. “These people need to see that,” he said.
On Jan. 30, they spoke about adding someone else as a Facebook friend. “The more people we have to spread stuff, the better,” Cox said.
After Lake testified, Crown attorney Rick Woodburn told the court he and colleague Sarah Kirby were “99.7 per cent sure” they would not be calling any more evidence.
“We’d like to close our case officially … next week when we come back,” Woodburn said. “But we are essentially done. That was our last witness.”
Justice Jamie Campbell told jurors to return to court next Wednesday. After the Crown closes its case, the judge will ask defence lawyers Alexandra Mamo, Quy Linh and Vison Linh whether they are offering evidence.
“There is no requirement for a defendant to prove anything,” Campbell reminded the jury. “They don’t have to give evidence. If they don’t, there’s no inference you can or should draw from that.”