Michael Joel-Hansen
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
A woman who was sentenced for her involvement in the death of Saskatoon woman Megan Michelle Gallagher told a Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench jury that she recalled some of the events leading up to Gallagher’s death, but nothing about the killing that took place inside a King George neighbourhood garage.
While being questioned on Wednesday about previous statements she made to police, Cheyann Peeteetuce repeated the same statement: “I don’t remember.”
During her June 2022 police interview, which was played in court during the third day of Roderick William Sutherland’s manslaughter trial, Peeteetuce said she saw Gallagher tied to a chair and being hit by several people, including Sutherland.
Her inconsistent testimony prompted a voir dire, or trial within a trial, at the Crown’s request. The jury was excused for most of the morning. Any arguments made in the absence of the jury cannot be published until the jury is sequestered.
Earlier this year, Peeteetuce pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
She testified on Wednesday that she was Facebook friends with Gallagher, but only met her once in person: at the garage at 709 Weldon Avenue where Gallagher was killed between Sept. 20 and 21, 2020.
An agreed statement of facts, which is part of evidence at the trial, states that Peeteetuce called Gallagher in the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2020 to buy drugs. Gallagher then called Peeteetuce two hours later.
Peeteetuce testified that Sutherland was in the garage on the night in question, but said she couldn’t say if the accused, who was seated behind defence counsel, was present in the courtroom.
When Crown Prosecutor William Burge asked her if anything happened to Gallagher in the garage, Peeteetuce did not directly answer, saying instead that the people who were there were using drugs.
“We were just drinking and getting high,” she said, prompting Burge to repeatedly ask her to speak louder so he could hear her answers.
When questioned about pleading guilty to manslaughter in relation to Gallagher’s death, Peeteetuce said she couldn’t recall, and that she was high on drugs the night Gallagher was killed.
On Wednesday morning, jurors asked to view an overhead picture of the Weldon Avenue property, and asked if they could search online for a photo themselves.
Justice John Morrall said jurors cannot look up information, adding they should not go to the property, either.
“You’re not allowed to do any of your own research,” he said.
On Tuesday, Jessica Badger, Sutherland’s sister, testified she was at her home when Sutherland’s then-girlfriend told her something was “wrong” with her brother.
When she arrived at the Weldon Avenue home, Badger testified her brother was crying in a bedroom at the back of the house. He eventually told her there was a body in the garage and said the house was being watched by gang members. She testified she called John Wayne Sanderson, who was her brother-in-law at the time, and offered him $120 in gas money so he could use his truck to dispose of Gallagher’s body.
The jury also heard testimony on Tuesday from Eric Winslow, who said he sold Gallagher crystal meth in the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2020.
Winslow said he met Gallagher at a convenience store and shared a cab with her. He later reached out to ask her about buying brass knuckles that she had showed him, but never heard back.
Winslow said he didn’t go to the property on Weldon Avenue where, according to the agreed facts, Gallagher was dropped off.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Blaine Beaven asked Winslow about his past drug use. Winslow admitted he was using at the time, and that it could have impacted his memory.
Sutherland was originally charged with first-degree murder. Along with manslaughter, he is also charged with offering an indignity to human remains.
— with files from Bre McAdam
