Betty Ann Adam, Saskatoon, SK (The StarPhoenix) – A videotape found in the vehicle of an RCMP constable who survived a shootout in which Curtis Dagenais is accused of killing two other officers was watched by an investigator but was thrown away and not listed among the items found.
In cross-examination Wednesday by defence lawyer Bill Roe during Dagenais’ double-murder trial, Const. Kenneth Palen said he was in charge of keeping physical evidence from the scene.
But Palen said he did not seize three VHS tapes that were visible in a photograph of the passenger seat of an RCMP SUV driven by Const. Michelle Knopp on July 7, 2006, when two other officers were fatally shot after a pursuit near Spiritwood.
Palen said the video recorder installed in Knopp’s vehicle was there for officer safety but had no videotape in it when he gathered items from the truck two days after the shooting.
Roe then directed Palen to his notebook, at which time the constable acknowledged making a note that he had tried to watch one of the videotapes on Aug. 11, 2006.
He said there was nothing on the video and he asked his staff sergeant what to do with it. Palen said he was directed up the chain of command to an inspector, who told him it was not necessary to keep the tape as long as his notes indicated there was nothing relevant.
When Roe asked Palen if he destroyed just one or all three tapes, Palen said he did not specifically recall the tapes.
“Do you know where (the tapes) are, as the exhibit man?” Roe asked Palen.
“According to my notes, we don’t have them,” Palen responded. “According to my notes, the tape was destroyed by garbage.”
That statement caused Dagenais to turn around in the prisoner’s box and look at his father, Art Dagenais.
Roe pressed Palen on the point, saying, “You were the exhibit man. You knew murder charges were laid.”
“Yes,” Palen answered, repeating his earlier statement the video camera did not have a tape in it when he first went to seize evidence from Knopp’s truck.
Outside court, Roe told reporters there is “always the question of a reasonable doubt in a criminal case.
“You always have to look at the investigative procedures that were carried out.
“There are some exhibits, it seems, that are not accounted for and one exhibit that was destroyed, a videotape that was in the vehicle. Certainly there was evidence it may or may not be relevant to the case,” Roe said.
Curtis Dagenais is facing two charges of first-degree murder. Constables Marc Bourdages, 26, and Robin Cameron, 29, died in hospital a week after the shooting, which occurred near Art Dagenais’ farm near the village of Mildred.
Dagenais, 44, is also charged with one count of attempted murder in connection with the shooting of Knopp, who suffered several wounds from bullet fragments.
In earlier testimony Wednesday before a Queen’s Bench jury, Palen said nine bullet casings from a .30-30 Winchester rifle were found in and near a half-ton truck belonging to Curtis Dagenais.
Palen detailed items seized in the days after the incident. In addition to those bullet casings, Palen described bullet fragments found lodged inside the seat of one RCMP vehicle, in the cab lining of the truck occupied by Bourdages and Cameron and in the outside of that truck’s passenger side door and its weatherstripping.
Two bullet fragments from an RCMP .9-mm pistol were found lodged in Dagenais’ vehicle. A bullet casing from an RCMP service pistol was found on the dash of Knopp’s vehicle and another behind the driver’s seat.
Two police bullet casings were also found in the Bourdages and Cameron vehicle, one of which was found on the passenger door side.
“We literally and figuratively tore the vehicles apart to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” Palen said.
All three vehicles — an RCMP SUV driven by Knopp, an RCMP extended-cab truck driven by Bourdages in which Cameron was a passenger and a blue 1996 GMC truck — were moved to Prince Albert and later to Regina, where they were examined in detail, Palen said.
Photographs from the crime scene showed four bullet holes in the windshield of the truck occupied by Bourdages and Cameron.
Palen also identified a uniform, body armour, boots and service belt — complete with flashlight, handcuffs and two full magazines — that belonged to Bourdages.
Palen said officers who had been at the hospital with Bourdages and Cameron gave him two garbage bags full of clothes and personal effects belonging to the two officers.
“Eventually both bags of clothing and kits were placed in jail cells at the detachment . . . laid out on paper,” Palen testified.
The items were dried before they were sealed in bags and labelled as evidence.
Court heard Tuesday a chase involving Dagenais and RCMP officers began in Spiritwood outside the residence of Elsie Jaster, mother of Curtis Dagenais. Following a dispute involving Dagenais and members of his family, RCMP officers attended the scene. Court heard the police vehicles were then seen following Dagenais north on Main Street toward the highway.
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