After 20 years, Curtis Dagenais, who murdered two Saskatchewan RCMP officers and wounded another, is set to appear in court in Saskatoon later this month due to a legal dispute over his truck.
The 1986 blue GMC 1500, which is currently stored at RCMP headquarters in Regina, is the subject of a forfeiture application by the Crown seeking its destruction. However, Dagenais is contesting this action.
The incident occurred on July 6, 2006, when Dagenais, being pursued by three RCMP constables in Spiritwood, drove his truck away, leading to a chase on rural roads. The pursuit ended when Dagenais’s truck was pinned against a tree by one of the constables’ vehicles. He then fatally shot two constables, Marc Bourdages and Robin Cameron, and injured another officer, Const. Michelle Knopp.
In 2009, a jury found Dagenais guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, sentencing him to three life terms in prison without parole for 25 years. Dagenais’s appeal of the convictions in 2012 was dismissed by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
Why is there a court battle over the truck now?
The delay in seeking the truck’s forfeiture earlier was addressed in court by Scott Bartlett, the Crown prosecutor handling the application. Bartlett, who was involved in the original trial, explained that the application was inadvertently overlooked until he raised it in 2021 before Justice Gerald Allbright, who has since retired.
During the 2021 hearing, Dagenais argued against destroying the truck, claiming it could provide evidence of his innocence through the bullet holes present. He had sought assistance from Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization advocating for wrongfully convicted individuals, but the organization had not taken on his case by the adjournment date set by Justice Allbright.
A fresh hearing on the forfeiture application took place in May of this year, presided over by Justice Daryl Labach in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench. Dagenais, representing himself, reiterated his opposition to the destruction of the truck, emphasizing the importance of preserving it for further examination.
Labach confirmed that Innocence Canada had declined to represent Dagenais, prompting the court to grant him another adjournment to secure legal representation. The hearing on the truck’s forfeiture is scheduled for August 31.
Tag: rewrite-pending