The Murder of Colten Boushie
Gerald Stanley was acquitted for shooting and killing Colten Boushie. Boushie had driven into Stanley’s farm seeking help with a flat tire. Stanley explained that he thought Boushie might rob him. The penalty for robbing is a few years in jail, not execution. Therefore Stanley had absolutely no right to use the death penalty to protect his property especially when Boushie had done nothing but drive up. Stanley changed his story and said he was protecting his family form Boushie attacking them. For all Stanley knew, Boushie could have been delivering political fliers, taking the census or selling cord wood. He did not do anything threatening. This all occurred in a very racist part of Saskatchewan. Boushie was indigenous. When Stanley’s lawyers saw the self-defence excuse would not fly, they floated a new defence, that the killing was accidental, i.e. he pointed the gun at Boushie’s head, put his finger on the trigger and pulled it, accidentally. The all-white jury acquitted Stanley because they saw in Stanley a fellow racist.
~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)