david longhurst › deadmonton 2005 › deadmonton › edmonton

David Longhurst, 26, was shot to death August 18th, 2005.

Ryan Lorne Enright, 22, was charged with first-degree murder, disguise with intent, using a firearm in the commission of an offence, possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm while being prohibited.

Rick Allen Everson, 23, was charged with accessory after the fact to murder.

the trial begins | the latest update

While it may seem odd to let a masked man into your house, that's just what David Longhurst did. After all, what was the harm – he knew the man behind the disguise – he had been robbed by him just four years previously.

However, that error in judgement quickly proved to be all too fatal.

Longhurst was entertaining his uncle and his two younger sisters when he let the man into his Crawford Plains home at 1028 45 Street shortly before midnight. The uncle suffrered from cerebral palsy.

An argument soon broke out and there was a tussle. Longhurst was shot in the head and he died on the floor of his home.

Longhurst's sisters were in the basement playing video games when the fracas occurred and they did not get a good look at the balaclava-clad man.

The two were not injured in the attack, and when they came upstairs they found their brother dead.

Police said the attack was not random and believed the shooter used a small-calibre weapon. They also said there was no gang involvement and drugs didn't seem to be an issue.

However, area neighbours said they were wary of the company Longhurst kept, with one individual quoted as saying "His friends gave me a bad feeling. I didn't want them around my family."

The day after Longhurst's murder, police arrested one man and announced they were looking for another.

They had recovered the gun used in the attack, and asked for public assistance in locating a balaclava which they believe was tossed somewhere in Mill Woods. A second man was arrested the next day.

Ryan Lorne Enright and Rick Allen Everson were charged in connection with Edmonton's twenty-fourth homicide of 2005.

Ryan Enright and David Longhurst had crossed paths before. In October 2001 Enright had robbed and stabbed Longhurst outside a Mill Woods convenience store. Enright was sentenced to nearly two years in jail after he pleaded guilty to the deed.

Prison time probably did not sit well with Enright, and he likely looked forward to his release date of August 5th, 2005.

Within 13 days of seeing the blue sky overhead, Enright got a mask and a gun and headed for Longhurst's home.

He knocked on Longhurst's door. When the man opened to see who it was, Enright shot him in the head. The bullet entered his chin and lodged in the back of his brain.

At least that was the scenario put forth by Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke in his opening submission in Ryan Enright's first-degree murder trial on April 10th, 2007.

At a hearing before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Burrows alone, Enright chose to plead guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter. He also pleaded guilty to being masked and possessing a prohibited weapon while under a firearms ban.

"The issue obviously is intent," said Enright's defence lawyer Laura Stevens.

While Van Dyke accepted the latter offers, he would hear not of the manslaughter plea and proceeded with the first-degree murder charge.

Court was told that Enright was nabbed by police tactical team officers in Bonnie Doon mall two days after Longhurst's death.

When arrested, he told police they had the wrong man and implicated his buddy Rick Everson. Once in custody, he soon admitted he was the one in Longhurst's home with the gun.

The court also heard how police found a pair of bloody jeans and the gun used to kill Longhurst in the home of Enright's girlfriend.

The Crown prosecutor opened his case with the playing of an hour-long interview videotape.

Images on monitors set up in the courtroom showed Enright in a tiny white room across a table from homicide detective Bill Clark.

The interview began with Enright repeatedly denying his involvement in Longhurst's murder. He told the detective he didn't have the courge to kill anyone, that he had too much to lose.

Enright blamed his friend, Rick Everson, who was later charged as an accessory to murder after the fact.

“I'm not a killer,” Enright told Clark.

Clark engaged Enright in conversation to ease the situation. Enright told the officer he had been a good student, but when he was 15 trouble started and he began using and selling drugs.

The cat-and-mouse interview went on for some time. Clark then challenged Enright with the results of the police investigation.

Enright offered a confession.

“It was an accident. You know it was an accident, right?” he explained to Clark.

Enright detailed for the detective how he went to Longhurst's home to tell him to quit harassing his brother and sister.

He told Clark that Longhurst had threatened his brother with a knife and stole his his drugs.

“He answered the door ... we talked. I was telling him he can't do shit like that.”

An argument broke out between the men. Enright said Longhurst grabbed the gun from where he had it secured in his pants.

“He pushed me and grabbed [the gun]. We were struggling, and it goes off,” Enright said. “He falls to the ground.”

Clark stared at Enright and told him he didn't believe him. The homicide detective suggested that Enright was still mad at Longhurst for causing him to go to jail, and that people had later heard him brag about threatening Longhurst with a gun and shooting him in the chin.

While Enright admitted to telling that story, he said he had been lying so he would "sound like he was a tough guy."

"I didn't go in there to shoot anybody. I just went there to scare the shit out of him. I didn't fire it."

“I didn't pull the trigger. I didn't mean to do this at all,” Enright protested.

"Yes, but you brought the gun," Clark's voice was heard over the TV speaker.

In the prisoner's box, Enright, a father of two, leaned forward and hung his head with his hands on the back of his neck as the video lit up the screens.

Surrounded by family, David Longhurst's mother Ruth cried in her front-row seat.

The trial was expected to last three weeks.

The Crown's introduction of the Enright-Edmonton police interview videotape was quickly challenged by defence lawyer Laura Stevens.

In what amounted to a voir dire hearing – a trial within a trial – Stevens sought to have the confession ruled inadmissible, claiming her client was induced into giving an involuntary statement.

Stevens argued Enright was placed in a “vulnerable” position when he was arrested in dramatic fashion by "heavily armed tactical team members" at Bonnie Doon mall.

She claimed Enright was denied an entitled phone call to a lawyer.

“He is in a very unequal position,” said Stevens.

While Enright was not threatened or placed in an oppressive environment, Stevens argued 27-year police veteran Det. Bill Clark made her client feel like he had to talk to him.

Stevens made several claims to support her position. She said that giving Enright cigarettes and pop in the interview room was part of a strategy of inducement that she said was unlawfully used by Clark.

The defence lawyer also argued Clark plainly offered to help Enright if he told him what had happened.

“He is saying 'I will tell you, but you have to help' and the officer agrees,” said Stevens of her client.

Crown prosecutor Van Dyke rebutted the suggestions, saying there were no inducements given by Clark and that Enright clearly wanted to talk from the beginning.

Clark refuted the defence argument, answering he never offered Enright either pop or cigarettes. He said they were only given because Enright demanded them.

But Clark did admit saying “I will do for you what I can” after Enright asked for his help. He belittled the implication, saying it was a “dismissive” comment because he knew he couldn’t offer the suspect any help nor did he know what kind of help the man wanted.

Det. Bill Clark was also taking part in another trial taking place at the same time. In a nearby courtroom, Clark was testifying at the trial of William Edward Wharry Jr., accused of shooting in October 2005 of Sara Easton. Ironically, his chief role in that trial was being featured in a videotaped interview.

Justice Brian Burrows reserved his decision and said he would rule on the matter at a later date.

Justice Burrows did not take long in ruling on the admissibility of allowing the videotape as evidence, taking only a day to make his decision.

Burrows disagreed with defence lawyer Laura Stevens who had argued the confession should have been ruled inadmissible because Det. Bill Clark offered to help Enright in exchange for his statement, thereby making it an "involuntary" admission.

"I do not accept this submission," Burrows offered in his written decision, ruling the detective made no inducement to Enright and simply agreed to hear the alleged killer's explanation as to how Longhurst's death was an accident.

"I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Enright gave his statement voluntarily and not in exchange for the 'help' that Det. Clark agreed he would give him. I find that the statement is admissible," Burrows ruled.

Court was expected to hear medical evidence that Longhurst died from a gunshot wound to the head and the single bullet went through the chin and into the brain.

The trial heard testimony from a pair of witnesses who were with Enright before and after the shooting.

Jordan Rose was on the stand and Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke led the man through transcripts of the interview he gave police in 2005.

Rose told detectives that Ryan Enright said he had drawn his gun on Longhurst and pointed it at either his ear or chest. Unexpectedly, Longhurst grabbed the barrel and a brief struggle ensued.

Enright told Rose that he punched Longhurst, but the man refused to let go of the gun. Enright then said he "shot him in the chin," according to the transcripts.

However, Rose testified at the trial that when he picked up Enright in his car shortly after the shooting, Enright said "the gun went off" during the struggle and "he was shot."

During cross-examination by Van Dyke, Rose agreed Enright had said: "I shot him."

Under questioning by defence lawyer Laura Stevens, Rose said at the time of the 2005 interview he was suffering from a lack of sleep due to cocaine use. He added he was scared while being interviewed by police.

Rose also said Enright "liked to brag and show off all the time" and agreed the accused killer liked to portray himself as a tough guy.

Prior to the shooting, Ryan Bolan testified he had been hanging out with Rose. The man said Enright came to Rose's home shortly before "asking for a ski mask and asking where David (Longhurst) lived."

Bolan described Enright as being "kind of mad." He also told the court Rose drove by the front of Longhurst's nearby home and twice pointed it out to Enright.

Sorting through the testimony heard, Justice Brian Burrows said Rose's statements were, at the least, "inconsistent."

The trial continued with Ryan Enright's girlfriend on the witness stand.

Shortly after David Longhurst was shot, Brandy Bolinski questioned Enright about stains she found on his blue jeans. She thought they looked like blood.

Bolinski came across the jeans on the floor of their bedroom in their Mill Woods townhouse.

"I phoned Ryan and I asked him about it," Bolinski testified. "He said it was soy sauce."

Bolinksi told the court when she washed the jeans in the sink that what came out "sure looked like blood."

She then called Enright back and told him not to bother coming home.

After Bolinski showed Enright's sister the jeans, the pair got onto the Edmonton Sun web site and read about the murder of David Longhurst.

She called Enright again and asked "Do you know David Longhurst?"

"He said yes, that's the guy who ratted me out," related Bolinski.

She added that when she told Enright about the shooting article, he acted like he didn't know Longhurst.

"I asked him if the blood on his pants was related to the shooting," she said.

"He said no, he had been in a fight. I asked him with who, and he said he didn't know."

Bolinski threatened to call police. That's when her boyfriend told her it was Ricky Everson who had killed Longhurst. Enright explained he got the blood on his jeans when Everson put the gun in his lap.

Ricky Everson was charged with accessory after the fact to murder in relation to the Longhurst shooting.

25-year-old Bolinski then faced cross-examination from defence lawyer Laura Stevens. She was asked if she is still together with Enright.

Court heard the accused is the father of their three-year-old son, and that Bolinski visits him at the Edmonton Remand Centre. The woman confirmed she is "still together" with Enright.

The heavily tattooed Everson was also called as a witness, testifying he drove Enright to a home in Mill Woods in August 2005.

Ten minutes after being dropped off, Enright returned to the car and "urgently" told Everson to drive away.

The Crown's witness then faced questions from the defence.

Everson denied being a drug dealer and also denied giving Enright the gun used in the shooting.

The man said Enright told him he was going to scare or slap out Longhurst. Everson also denied agreeing to "back up" Enright at the confrontation.

As the trial was beginning to wind down through its final week, Ryan Enright took the stand in his own defence.

Enright said he and David Longhurst were involved in a hand-to-hand struggle when the gun went off. A moment later, Longhurst lay dead after a bullet had gone through his chin and deep into the back of his head.

The accused said his hand was on top of the gun, near the rear of the barrel.

“The gun went off ... He just fell face forward,” Enright said.

“He just dropped. He just let go and he dropped.”

Enright told the court he ran from Longhurst's home after the gun went off, later going out for a beer with his parents.

The man admitted he couldn't go home to his common-law wife, Brandy Bolinski, and their small children because he was feeling “confused and scared.”

“I still wasn’t sure what happened,” Enright said recalling the night.

Final arguments in Ryan Enright's first-degree murder trial heard the Crown point out the accused boasted to his buddies that he had shot David Longhurst in the face, part of a premeditated plan.

Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van Dyke said Enright held a grudge against Longhurst and that he planned and deliberated to kill him before going over to the home with a gun and a ski mask.

However, defence lawyer Laura Stevens argued that Enright's account, that there was a struggle that caused the gun to go off, was more credible as it was more consistent with blood spatter evidence heard.

Stevens argued it was a case of manslaughter and not murder. She said there was no evidence Enright was holding a grudge or intended to kill Longhurst.

Court earlier heard Enright say he had gone to Longhurst's home simply to "scare" him.

The long and technical arguments were too much for one individual in the courtroom.

Ryan Enright was observed nodding off at one point while the lawyers argued.

On May 11th, 2007 Court of Queen's Bench Justice Brian Burrows handed Ryan Lorne Enright an automatic life sentence after he found the man guilty of first-degree murder.

Enright must serve 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole. He was also sentenced to two years concurrent each for being disguised and possessing a firearm while prohibited.

As he heard the verdict, Enright looked down and nodded slightly. He declined when asked if he wanted to speak in court and simply waved at his family and friends while being led away.

Crying, Enright’s mother mouthed the words: “I love you – you’re not guilty” to her son.

In his ruling Burrows said Enright, now 23, planned and deliberated to murder David Longhurst.

The justice ruled Enright felt that Longhurst had “ratted him out” in connection with a 2001 robbery which resulted in him going to jail.

Enright obtained a gun and balaclava and had a buddy in a car waiting for him outside Longhurst’s Mill Woods home when he walked in and shot him in the face following a struggle about midnight on August 18th, 2005, Burrows stated.

Enright admitted in court that he had killed Longhurst but his attempt to plead guilty to manslaughter was rejected.

He testified he had simply gone to Longhurst’s home to scare him and said the gun had accidentally gone off while the two were in a struggle over the weapon.

Burrows accepted there was a struggle but rejected Enright's claim that he did not knowingly and intentionally fire the gun at Longhurst.

He also ruled Enright was a liar and an unbelievable witness. Burrows accused him of spinning a “web of lies” which was left “in tatters” upon close examination.

Before the pronouncement of verdict and sentencing, victim impact statements were read into the court record.

With tears in her eyes, Ruth Longhurst spoke of alternating between anger and sadness since her son's death.

“I’m living the worst nightmare possible,” she said. “I feel like a big piece of my heart is missing.”

She added that since the shooting she was having problems sleeping.

Charles Longhurst wrote in his statement the killing of his son has made him an “emotional wreck” and “completely decimated” his family.

Longhurst’s parents and three sisters were all in counselling and the slaying had left the couple suffering marital problems, court heard.

"I'm elated the way it went," Ruth Longhurst said later outside court.

“Justice has been served. Other than my son being here, it's the best Mother's Day present I'll ever have."

Enright will be 48 when his parole eligibilty comes up in the year 2032.

Some relatives of Enright said the case would be appealed.

Justice Brian Burrows most recently presided over the trial of Michael Erin Briscoe and Joseph Wesley Laboucan, charged with the murder of Nina Courtepatte.

Crown lawyer Lawrence Van Dyke most recently prosecuted Karl Blair "Scooter" Strongman, Ronald Adrian "Junior" Crane and Deidre Renee Baptiste. They were charged with the murder of Hassan Mohammed Yussuf, a Somali taxi driver whose body was stuffed in the trunk of his own cab.

Defence lawyer Laura Stevens had most recently represented such clients as Thomas George Svekla – charged with the murders of two Edmonton area sex trade workers; Michael White – charged with the murder of his wife Liana; Murray Archibald McClenaghan – charged with the murder of his business partner Donald Charles Hanscom; one of four teens charged with the murder of Stefan William Conley; and Kyle Werner – one of five teens charged with the murder of Shane Rolston.

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deadmonton 2005 - david longhurst