Final arguments delivered in trial of 2 Alberta Mounties charged with manslaughter

Lawyers for two Alberta Mounties charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a man at a rest stop told a jury trial Thursday that their clients acted in self defence, while the Crown contends they used excessive force.

The closing arguments were made in the case of Const. Jessica Brown, 31, and Cpl. Randy Stenger, 45, who are accused of manslaughter and aggravated assault in the death of 31-year-old Clayton Crawford on July 3, 2018, near Whitecourt, Alta.

The jury has heard that Crawford suffered from 10 gunshot wounds after Brown fired her carbine rifle eight times, while Stenger shot his semi-automatic pistol four times.

Whitecourt RCMP were notified of the sighting of a purple 1992 Dodge Dakota pickup truck at a rest stop that was seen fleeing the area of a shooting the day before in Valhalla Centre, a hamlet about 300 kilometres northwest of where Crawford was killed.

Confusion as to whether or not the driver of the truck was the suspect in the shooting or the intended target came up numerous times during the trial.

Crown attorney Linda Shin told the jury that Brown and Stenger made assumptions about the information that was given to them about Crawford.

"[Brown's] guesses or assumptions were neither educated nor reasonable," said Shin. "She had all the information she needed, distorted to fit the picture she already painted."

Earlier in the trial, court heard that Brown received a vague call from the Grande Prairie RCMP where she was asked to "check out" a purple pickup truck that was spotted by an off-duty officer at a rest stop near Whitecourt. The clerk told Brown that the person in the truck may have been involved in a shooting the day before in Valhalla Centre.

Both the Crown and the defence say that the shooting in Valhalla Centre may have been about a dispute over a "drug den." Crawford was known to be involved in the drug trade and had been previously arrested for discharging a firearm. None of Crawford's criminal history was known to the two Mounties at the time.

A toxicology report showed that Crawford had methamphetamine in his blood at the time of his death.

Stenger and Brown testified last week that they fired at Crawford when he tried to flee from the Chickadee Creek rest stop after they approached him.

Prosecutors said that Brown and her team approached the truck with incomplete information about the driver and the shooting the day before.

The defence said that the Mounties had a duty to act.

"She was doing her job," said Brown's lawyer Robb Beeman. "Should they have just driven away? Of course not."