First-degree murder

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/06/2003 (8330 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — A jury yesterday found Robert Sand guilty of murdering RCMP Const. Dennis Strongquill while Sand’s girlfriend, Laurie Bell, was convicted of manslaughter.

Strongquill’s family shouted “thank you” to jurors and applauded the 7 p.m. verdict, while the two young lovers displayed vastly different emotions as they saw each other for what will possibly be the last time.

A pale-looking Sand, 24, broke down in tears and appeared dazed and wobbly as a heavy guard of sheriff’s officers, along with an armed police officer, led him away in shackles. His lawyer said he was under heavy medication.

Twenty-one-year-old Bell, clearly relieved the jury had not found her guilty of first-degree murder, ran her hands through her pigtailed hair, wiped away a tear and flashed a smile at her lawyer, Brian Midwinter.

Sand maintained his composure during the verdict, in stark contrast to his behaviour a day earlier, when he attacked his own lawyer, Jason Miller. It was later determined Sand had brought a razor blade into the courtroom, although he did not use it in the attack.

After the jury delivered its verdict, Queen’s Bench Justice John Menzies immediately sentenced Sand to a mandatory penalty of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

“This was nothing but a cowardly slaughter,” he told Sand during a stinging five-minute speech. Menzies said Sand had murdered “a pillar of Canadian society and a role model for the aboriginal community.”

Menzies criticized Sand for a recent diary entry seized from his jail cell in which he called Strongquill a coward and gloated about winning the “war.”

“You said this was war, but this wasn’t war. It isn’t war when only one side knows about it,” he said.

Sand declined to speak in court yesterday when given the chance by Menzies, but defence lawyer Greg Brodsky spoke on his behalf.

“He is anxious he wouldn’t be eloquent enough,” Brodsky told the court.

“He wants me to tell you he feels sorry for the family of Const. Strongquill.”

Outside court, Brodsky said it’s too early to consider whether he will appeal.

“I accept the verdict. We had a good fight,” he said, adding his client was always more concerned with the fate of his lover, Bell.

“He is very happy Laurie Bell wasn’t convicted of murder. He’s very happy her being along with him didn’t mean she had to spend the rest of her life in prison.”

Bell will be sentenced June 30. Several of Strongquill’s young nieces — about the same age as Bell — stood silently near the prisoner’s box, glaring at her as she was led out of the courtroom in shackles.

Crown attorney Jim Ross said prosecutors likely won’t seek the maximum penalty of life in prison for Bell (Even if she received the maximum penalty, Bell would be eligible for parole after seven years).

Ross said they will be seeking something more than time in custody, which he suggested Bell’s lawyer may request.

Bell has been in jail for 18 months. Pre-trial jail time is generally counted as double time by the courts. If that holds true in this case, Bell will be considered to have served three years already.

Her lawyer said it’s clear the seven-woman, five-man jury rejected testimony from jailhouse informant Rose Ferguson, who claimed Bell bragged about her role in the Strongquill slaying and even cheered Sand on by saying “Kill him, kill him.”

“The jury didn’t buy for one instant the story of the jailhouse informant,” Midwinter said outside court.

The Crown had argued Bell assisted Sand in the killing, likely by passing him guns from the back seat of their stolen truck.

Jurors had the option of finding each accused guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter, or acquitting them.

Midwinter said he was leaving the possibility of an appeal open. The Crown wouldn’t comment if it will appeal Bell’s conviction on the lesser charge.

The jury took about six hours — four if you subtract their lunch break — to convict Sand and Bell.

More than 120 witnesses testified during the seven-week trial.

“This has been a long, long road. It started in December 2001 and didn’t finish until today, Friday the 13th,” said Menzies.

In fact, the verdict came just one day after Strongquill would have celebrated his 54th birthday.

“I have difficulty understanding this. You are not a stupid man. You are intelligent. You can rationalize. You can feel for other people. The only conclusion I can come to is you hate society,” Menzies told Sand.

“It is also apparent you hate police. I don’t know why. They are there to help you. Dennis Strongquill was there to help you. He was there to make the streets safe. This is a terrible waste of life.”

Strongquill, a 21-year member of the Waywayseecappo detachment, was gunned down after a routine traffic stop outside Russell turned into a highway ambush.

Strongquill, a father of six, and his partner, Const. Brian Auger, were planning on heading into town for coffee when they spotted a vehicle run through a stop sign.

When they pulled it over, Robert Sand immediately jumped out of the passenger seat and opened fire, striking the police cruiser four times.

Strongquill and Auger retreated back toward town, with the vehicle containing Bell, Sand, and his brother Danny in pursuit.

The trio were on the run from Alberta and had committed a string of crimes across the Prairies, including bank robbery, countless car thefts and arsons, and break-and-enters that included thefts of nearly a dozen firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Danny Sand rammed into the side of the cruiser car just outside the RCMP detachment, trapping Strongquill inside his passenger seat with a gun that had malfunctioned.

Robert Sand, armed with a shotgun, fired four blasts at close range into his chest, killing him almost instantly. Bell was seated in the back seat, while Danny Sand was shot twice by Auger before the suspects sped away.

They were caught the next day hiding out at a motel in Wolseley, Sask. Danny Sand was killed by a police sniper, prompting Robert Sand and Bell to give themselves up.

Robert Sand confessed to the slaying, but claimed he didn’t realize Strongquill was in the car. Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky told jurors earlier this week they should convict Sand of manslaughter.

The Crown argued Sand had a hatred for police and would kill anyone who got in his way of having an “idyllic life by the sea” with Bell, who had only come back into his life weeks earlier following years apart.

Sand was out on parole after a string of robbery convictions — including one where another occupant of his car shot at a police officer — and fell for Bell, vowing to get her off drugs. They quickly fled Alberta, with Sand breaching conditions of his parole and Bell running away from several criminal charges.

Danny Sand, the younger, apparently even more violent brother, tagged along and brought his love of high-powered weaponry with him. He was on parole for a prior conviction of trying to run down a police officer.

Menzies said yesterday it was Sand — and not Strongquill or police in general — who was a coward. He called Sand’s attack on his own lawyer “incomprehensible and mind- boggling.”

“Your lawyers genuinely expressed concern for what would happen to you. But your brutality continued in this courtroom,” he said.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Steve Saunders said following the verdict: “We do feel that justice has run its course, and that the verdicts are an endorsement of the value of law enforcement in the province of Manitoba.

“I phoned the Waywayseecappo detachment and the news was well-received. We hope the Strongquill family can take some solace in the verdicts.”

Winnipeg Police Association president Loren Schinkel said the guilty verdicts were welcome news for police officers in Canada.

“It’s very positive from our association’s perspective and likely other associations across the country as well,” Schinkel said. “It certainly reinforces the jury was paying attention. At the end of the day, the evidence seemed very clear.

“As for the first-degree conviction of Sand, it was entirely appropriate. It reinforces what we’ve said all along — that peace officers are on the front lines in the war against crime, and there is a difference if someone takes their life.”

Schinkel said it was unfortunate the trial was so lengthy and that so many of the horrifying details of the shooting of Strongquill became so public.

“It was very gripping, hearing the tapes of those final seconds that came out (during the trial),” he said. “That’s why this case has hit so close to home for police officers in this country, because they place themselves in dangerous situations every single day.

“By the grace of God, the Winnipeg Police Service hasn’t lost a member in 32 years. But, everyone on the job realizes that could change in a matter of seconds.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

david.kuxhaus@freepress.mb.ca