Jesse Norman Sweder may have told an undercover police officer he killed Peter John Letendre but in fact was never even at the scene of his death, defence lawyer Jim Heller told a jury Thursday in opening arguments for a first-degree murder trial.
Sweder took credit for the Dec. 11, 2004 shooting death nearly three years after the incident, while in a Fort St. John bar with the officer, who as posing as a full-patch biker, the court was told.
Sweder will take the unusual step of taking the stand to explain his actions at a point during the trial.
"He's going to explain an act of bravado to self aggrandize himself," Heller said.
It's the second time the case has gone to trial after the previous one ended in a hung jury in July 2010. The trial is expected to last eight weeks and Crown prosecution expects to call 22 witnesses.
Crown prosecution is alleging Sweder, while in the company of two other men, shot Letendre because of Letendre's behaviour towards others in the city's drug trade and threats made to Sweder's family.
Letendre was found dead outside Victoria Towers on 20th at Norwood.
The jury will hear from two witnesses who heard shots at about 6 a.m. on the day of Letendre's death and saw three people fleeing the scene in the direction of a drug house at 1821 Maple Street and a third who saw two people heading in the same direction.
As well, a firearms expert will testify that a nine-millimetre semi-automatic gun was used in the murder.
Crown prosecutor Nick Barber told the court the investigation turned towards Sweder in 2007 when police tapped his phone conversations with the two other men allegedly at the scene - Ed Cardinal and Cliff McCarthy - and with his father.
Sweder, who was living in Fort St. John at the time, was brought in by RCMP in for questioning on Oct. 26, 2007 and released less than 24 hours later after he was confronted about the incident but did not admit to committing the shooting.
While in custody, Sweder was placed in a holding cell with the undercover officer dressed like an outlaw motorcycle gang member who gained Sweder's trust over that time. Both were released at the same time and went to a local bar where they spoke for hours.
"It was during this time that Sweder admitted to the murder in detail. That conversation was recorded," Barber said.
The court will hear Sweder telling the officer that McCarthy was supposed to shoot Letendre and when he couldn't do it, "so Sweder grabbed the gun from him and emptied it into the victim," Barber continued. "Sweder further said that Cliff was a 'bitch' for not doing it."
Barber also said phone taps show Sweder was told several things by his father about the murder including that Letendre was shot in the head with a .22-calibre gun. Burber urged jury members to listen carefully to the information given to Sweder by the police and by his father and to compare that to what he told the undercover officer in the bar.
Heller asked the jury to pay close attention to how Sweder responded to the information from his father and to the testimony from others who will say they were either at the scene of the shooting or were in an apartment in Victoria with Letendre moments before his death.
Heller said the jury's decision on whether or not Sweder is guilty will come down to credibility of the witnesses and they will need to take into account the possible motives for saying Sweder was the killer. Defence evidence will show other people also took responsibility for the murder, he said.
"This is a fascinating case because you'll see so many twists and turns in human nature," Heller said.
