'Not a happy day': Gerald Stanley lawyer offers condolences to Boushie family after no-appeal decision
Scott Spencer says the Stanley family is relieved the criminal process is over
Gerald Stanley's lawyer has responded to the Crown's decision not to appeal his client's acquittal by saying the Stanley family is relieved the criminal process is over but "this is not a happy day."
"On behalf of the Stanley family, and my team, I offer our unreserved condolences to the Boushie/Baptiste family," wrote Scott Spencer in an emailed statement to CBC.
On Wednesday, Crown prosecutors announced they would not appeal the acquittal of Stanley, a Sask. farmer who was accused of second-degree murder in the shooting of 22-year-old Colten Boushie.
"The Stanley family is relieved that the criminal process is now complete, but this is not a happy day. A young man died, that is a terrible tragedy," said Spencer in the statement.
"There is no going back; there is no making it right."
Spencer noted that the Stanley family hopes "that with time the Boushie/Baptiste family can begin to heal."
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is expected to offer its reaction to the Crown's decision shortly.
'We weren't surprised': FSIN
Kim Jonathan, vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said the Crown's decision not to appeal is "really sad."
"It was unfortunate that we weren't surprised," she said during a press conference Thursday.
Earlier this week, the federal police watchdog, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, announced it has started probing the RCMP's investigation of Boushie's death.
The CRCC's review will look into whether the RCMP's investigation was conducted reasonably and whether racial discrimination played a role.
During the trial, the RCMP testified they did not put a cover over the vehicle in which Boushie was shot and following a rainfall, some of the blood evidence was washed away.
Jonathan welcomed the CRCC review.
"Make those truths come out in terms of the police work at the outset — how a lot of that blood was washed away overnight, the car sat there," she said.
Stanley's next court date
Stanley's legal troubles are not over.
On March 19 he'll appear in Battleford provincial court on charges that he improperly stored seven guns on his farm near Biggar, Sask.
Asked if the FSIN will be there, Jonathan said, "There will be a lot of people going."
With files from Charles Hamilton