Brandon Harder
Regina Leader-Post
Jurors selected to hear the murder trial of Dillon Ricky Whitehawk were offered a grim roadmap on Monday.
As Crown prosecutor David Belanger provided an opening statement, jurors heard that two men — 27-year-old Jordan Gaiton Denton and 23-year-old Keenan Scott Toto — were gunned down on the streets of Regina in late 2019.
The government lawyer told jurors he expects they will not only hear, but be convinced, that Whitehawk pulled the trigger intentionally in what was described as a pair of drive-by shootings.
The accused man stands charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Nov. 9, 2019 death of Denton and the Dec. 1, 2019 death of Toto.
Once in response to each charge, the clean-shaven, bespectacled man observing the proceedings from behind glass stated: “Not guilty.”
It’s not the first time Whitehawk has said so at the outset of a trial for those charges. The proceeding that began Monday is a retrial.
Court of King’s Bench Associate Chief Justice Michael Tochor made this clear to jurors, telling them not to look into the previous trial or speculate about it.
The outcome of that previous proceeding has nothing to do with the decision they will have to make at the end of the trial at hand, he advised.
Belanger forecasted that the jury will hear about shootings from those who were present in the vehicles.
The Crown prosecutor said he expects witnesses will say both men were gunned down after being asked about their gang affiliation.
Jurors will hear, Belanger anticipates, that Whitehawk carried out the killings in an effort to make a name for himself within the Indian Mafia (IM), a Regina street gang of which he was allegedly a member.
“Not only did he kill these two victims intentionally, he planned and intended to kill rivals,” said Belanger, relaying what he expects the evidence to show.
He told jurors they’ll hear a lot during the trial about Regina street gangs, their operation, and that at the time of the killings there was ongoing, violent animosity between the IM and rivals from the Native Syndicate Killers (NSK).
Belanger said he expects they’ll hear from a man who will testify he was a high-ranking member of the IM and was in jail at the same time as Whitehawk, who told him about two shootings. The prosecutor informed jurors he expects that man will say Whitehawk was promoted as a result of the killings.
“In short, ladies and gentlemen, we believe the Crown’s case will tell, witness after witness, a very consistent and straightforward story about Dillon Whitehawk as the person who senselessly shot Jordan Denton and Keenan Toto on two different dates, and that he did so very intentionally,” Belanger said.
As the prosecutor pointed out, his opening statement is not evidence. Presentation of the evidence began Monday afternoon when the Crown called its first witness, Regina Police Service Const. Amber Hawker.
The officer told Belanger that she and her partner were the first to the scene Nov. 9, 2019, after receiving information that someone had been shot, and she came upon the man she would later learn was Denton.
While Hawker said she and her partner took over attempts at lifesaving measures from a woman they found with Denton at the scene, he was pronounced dead.
She described for the prosecutor, among other things, how Denton was dressed. She also answered the questions of defence lawyer Thomas Hynes, who asked about the police dispatch process and how and when police learned Denton’s identity.
The trial is scheduled to run for three weeks.
