A Crown prosecutor cast doubt Wednesday on an accused murderer's assertion he lied to an undercover police officer when he claimed to have shot to death Peter John Letendre nearly seven years ago.
Now in its 11th week, the jury trial for Jesse Norman Sweder, facing a charge of first degree murder, entered closing arguments this week.
Letendre was found dead in the early morning hours of Dec. 11, 2004 outside Victoria Towers at 20th and Norwood, shot four times in the back with a nine millimetre semiautomatic pistol.
A key piece of evidence is a taped conversation Sweder had with the officer, who was posing as a Hells Angel biker, while they were in a Fort St. John bar in October 2007 shortly after the two were released from police custody.
Defence lawyer Jim Heller has asserted Sweder told the officer, who cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban, he killed Letendre not because he actually committed the act, but because he wanted to establish credibility to land a job maintaining marijuana grow operations.
But Crown prosecutor Alexander MacDonell told the jury that "it was clear" Sweder already had the job before making the confession and did so because he found someone to confide in.
"Now think about the situation of a man who has murdered another man and then he tries to start a new life," MacDonell told the jury. "It's a terrible thing to have on a man's conscience."
The two had shared a cell in the Fort St. John RCMP detachment where Sweder had been brought in for questioning about the murder.
Videotaped evidence from the cell shows the officer developed a rapport with Sweder to the point that by the time they got to the bar they were "two friends happy to get out of jail," MacDonell said.
"His [Sweder's] concerns about telling people about the murder weren't there with [the undercover officer]," MacDonell said.
"The secret was safe with him... he did not appear to be someone who would go to the police with this information."
MacDonell also cast doubt over Sweder's assertion he may not have even been in Prince George at the time of Letendre's murder. In an interview with police, Sweder was "vague" about dates and reminded the jury they heard he and his brother left for Fort St. John in June 2005.
During the trial, the jury heard testimony from several witnesses involved in the city's drug world - some who put Sweder at the scene of the murder, others who testified that others also took credit for killing Letendre, who was described at one point as an enforcer and debt collector.
Sweder himself admitted he dealt cocaine, but only in the powder form, and stressed he stayed away from crack cocaine, the street gangs and the scene in the VLA, operating houses elsewhere in the city instead.
MacDonell suggested Sweder may have been obligated to do some "dirty work" for a dealer with strong connections to organized crime in lieu of not paying "taxes" to the gangs to continue operating.
It's the second time Sweder has faced a jury trial on the matter. The first one, which lasted seven weeks, ended in a hung jury in July 2010. It's expected the current jury will enter deliberations by the end of this week.
