the july 12th, 2007 appearance - alberta RCMP deaths › deadmonton 2005 › deadmonton › edmonton

A well-attended court hearing shed no additional light on the charges brought against Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman.

The two men themselves did not appear; in their place were prominent Edmonton defence lawyers Peter Northcott and D'arcy DePoe.

Judge Ken Tjosvold of provincial court granted a request by the lawyers and adjourned the case until August 9th, 2007.

Remarkably, the two charges against Hennessey and Cheeseman were not read out in court.

Tjosvold indicated he may have to disqualify himself from the case because he was an assistant deputy minister with Alberta Justice when the department was putting together a report on Roszko's extensive involvement with the criminal justice system.

The judge went so far as to ask the lawyers to consider if they had any issue with that connection.

It was likely the balance of proceedings against Hennessey and Cheeseman would take place in an Edmonton court before a different judge.

Line-ups to get into the small town courthouse formed hours before proceedings were scheduled to begin.

As expected, local and national media were out in force. One correspondent at the scene counted over three dozen reporters.

630 CHED's Byron Christopher said that anybody who didn't have a microphone in his hand had one in their face. It seemed every person within walking distance of the Mayerthorpe courthouse was peppered by reporters for their assessment of the charges the men faced.

Filling the 52-seat courtroom, aside from the abundant media, were were about 20 friends and family of Hennessey and Cheeseman. Some were visibly angry, others were openly crying. Cheeseman's wife Christine sat in the front row quietly sobbing and wiping away tears.

After the hearing concluded Christine, along with her father-in-law, braved a media gauntlet as the pair divided a sea of reporters while leaving the courthouse. The woman was still in tears.

Friends and family pleaded with the media to leave her alone. “Get away from her, leave her alone,” one woman said before Christine got into a white pickup truck and sped away.

Already dramatic, the hearing started on a curious note that saw two men, sitting across the aisle from each other, make religious announcements that had the heavily-jacketed RCMP officers present on their guard.

Just before Tjosvold walked in to open the session, a younger man stood up in the courtroom and asked for everyone's attention.

“I have a simple request as an ambassador of Jesus Christ and I feel we should pray for this event before it happens.” (One reporter later told the Last Link that he prayed ... for the man to shut up).

A victim's services worker quietly told the young man he should do his praying outside court.

Then a second, older man, holding a well-thumbed copy of the Bible, sprang from his seat.

"Excuse me," he said, "are you the ruler of this court, as I am a representative and ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven? I have some new evidence and information that should be on the record. Can I say it now?"

"No, frankly, you can't," Tjosvold said, adding the man was welcome to speak to the Crown prosecutor later.

"I'm going to tenderly and gently ask if this court is trying to hide anything," the man said.

"No, it's not," the judge said.

The same man was seen and heard sounding "a battle call for justice" on a horn outside the courthouse before and after the hearing.

CTV Edmonton's David Ewasuk caught up to the man, 54-year-old Ed Cartwright, who proclaimed Shawn Hennessey innocent.

"He was like a brother to the RCMP. My disgust ... is very obvious, okay?" Cartwright pointed out in understatement for the reporter's benefit.

"God has spoken on the issue. There was a tornado when a SWAT team arrested Shawn."

(In actuality, the tornado touched down shortly after the July 8th news conference had concluded, hours after Shawn was in custody).

"One of my fellow citizens is being unjustly treated," Cartwright explained to another reporter, adding he knew Hennessey from the Barrhead boxing club.

None of the family of the four officers attended the brief hearing.

D'arcy DePoe, Shawn Hennessey's defence lawyer, said he had yet to review the evidence in the case.

“We really don’t know anything about the evidence,” he said, adding he may have more to say after the next court date.

The lawyer said neither man was expected to appear at that hearing either. He addressed the media with concerns for the families of the accused men.

"We would ask you to respect the privacy of the families involved. This is a very difficult time for everybody."

“We are very gratified by the degree of support coming from the community for these two young men,” he added.

Trying the case for the Crown as lead prosecutor was 68-year-old Steven Koval.

Koval was part of a team that successfully prosecuted Jim Keegstra for hate crimes in a high-profile Alberta case in the 1980s.

The veteran lawyer, who has 37 years of experience, said he expected to wade through “binders and binders and binders and binders” of evidence which he must share with the defence.

Koval said the men would be jointly charged.

"And when they're jointly charged that means they're prosecuted at the same time at the same hearing.

However, the Crown lawyer did not rule out splitting the case at a later stage in the proceedings.

Koval also commented on the unusual offer of evidence made just as the day's hearing began.

"I was kind of curious to know where he was going to go with it. Maybe he knows something," Koval said.

CTV Edmonton reported that Dennis Cheeseman was being housed in a special unit of the Edmonton Remand Centre – one set up for inmates who may pose harm to themselves. Cheeseman's lawyer, Peter Northcott, had no comment on the story.

According to an interview with 630 CHED's Byron Christopher on the Corus radio network's Roy Green show on July 14th, defence lawyer D'arcy DePoe had not yet received disclosure from the Crown as of Friday the 13th.

Disclosure is the process by which the court must provide all the evidence amassed against an indivual charged.

After the hearing, which lasted only minutes, those manning cameras and microphones scrambled hoping to catch the reaction of those in attendance.

One person quoted called the charges Cheeseman and Hennessey “heartbreaking.” The comment came a man that has been at the centre of events since the two men were charged: John Hennessey, Shawn's grandfather.

“It wasn’t only the RCMP officers that were torn apart because of Roszko – look what he’s doing from hell,” raged the 74-year-old as he left the courthouse.

“Everything blew up so sky-high. But (the truth) will come out.”

Hennessey told reporters what RCMP showed him when he was taken in for questioning on July 10th.

“It was the same charges, they just had the word ‘pending’ in front of them. It was completely ridiculous. They just do it to make you feel like two cents.”

Some figured the RCMP and Alberta’s Justice Department were treating the two men as scapegoats.

“It is just a big political thing because they have got lots of pressure to come down on somebody,” said Chris Gordon.

“It’s a bunch of crap. So far they are being portrayed as cop killers, as haters. They are respectable people in the community. They work hard every day. They’ve got families.”

21-year-old Derrick Olson, at whose house Shawn Hennessey and Christine were arrested, described his friend.

“He is the hardest-working guy in Barrhead. There’s no way he’s involved in this garbage,” said Olson.

Addressing a camera the man sent a message to his buddy: “Everybody loves you guys, totally. We all know you’re innocent. Stay strong. You're going to get through this.”

“I just wish it was over,” said Marian Power, Christine’s aunt, as she was observed eating a bowl of soup at Bentley’s Food Emporium across the street from the courthouse.

“They’re innocent – everybody knows that.”

Asked how she was doing she replied, "It's rough."

"I was doing good until now, but I'm almost breaking down now."

"They think it's a witch hunt," said family friend Kathy Phillips.

A donation box for a defence fund was set out at Barrmart Foods in Barrhead.

Also on July 12th, CTV Edmonton reported the first-degree murder charges brought against Hennessey and Cheeseman came about as the result of an RCMP sting operation known as "Mr. Big" that involved "drugs and strip clubs, large amounts of money – even a private plane landing at the runway at Barrhead" » full details »

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deadmonton 2005 - alberta RCMP deaths - the july 12th, 2007 appearance