Jury acquits man in 2023 stabbing death of Sagkeeng resident

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This article was published 30/05/2025 (303 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man accused of murder in the 2023 stabbing death of a Sagkeeng First Nation man has been acquitted.

Matthew Vaughn Schacht, who was 38 when charged with second-degree murder in the 2023 death of Brendan Neil Hall, was acquitted May 8 in Winnipeg after a jury trial.

The jury declined to find him guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter.

Schacht admitted to stabbing Hall, 42, outside Schacht’s Tipi Road home in Sagkeeng on March 16, 2023, but told court that was to defend himself after the victim broke into his home armed with a knife and club, threatening to kill him.

Schacht testified he disarmed Hall, but he kept rearming himself and shouted for someone to grab a gun from his vehicle’s glovebox.

A witness called by Crown prosecutor Daniel Chaput had testified Schacht was the aggressor, while Hall was unarmed and tried to retreat.

The two had a history of negative interactions, Court of King’s Bench Justice Alain Huberdeau said, with Schacht believing his girlfriend was cheating on him with Hall.

Schacht was also concerned over Hall supplying his girlfriend with drugs, the judge noted.

Hall’s body was found with 18 stab wounds and 14 other cuts and incisions. The cuts included defensive wounds on his hands and arms, though chief provincial medical examiner John Younes said an attacker can sometimes sustain such wounds.

Schacht was left with no wounds, apart from a scrape to the knee. The house’s door was not damaged.

Medical evidence showed Hall was under the influence of meth at the time, said Huberdeau in his instructions to the jury, which Younes had previously testified can cause people to be aggressive and feel impervious to pain.

Hall’s family members, including sister Florence Courchene, are upset with the verdict, believing it to be an injustice.

“There’s substantial evidence that still needs to be (looked over) in this case,” she said, adding family believe Hall was the one who was attacked, not the attacker.

Courchene said she believes evidence suggesting Hall had been lured to Schacht’s home, in order for the acquitted man to harm him, had not been brought to court.

She said that included messages sent via text and social media indicating Hall had been invited to Schacht’s home.

“My brother never would have gone somewhere uninvited,” said Courchene.

Family have also complained to RCMP over what they believe to be insufficient investigative work at the crime scene and into Schacht’s background, among other concerns.

Hall was a father of five who sang and danced in powwows.

Family members and supporters rallied Friday afternoon outside RCMP headquarters on Portage Avenue and planned to walk to the courthouse downtown to voice their concerns.

Courchene said the family had hoped for the Crown to appeal the verdict, but communications they’ve had with officials thus far suggest that will not be the case.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca