Judge condemns murder trial delay, asks lawyers to 'turn around' and look at the public 'we serve'

A Saskatoon murder trial opened on Monday with the judge sharply criticizing the time it’s taken to get to trial.

Summer-Sky Henry and Cheyann Peeteetuce are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Megan Gallagher. Gallagher was reported missing in September 2020. Two years later, police found the woman’s remains near St. Louis, Sask.

Justice Richard Danyliuk asked the lawyers to turn in their chairs and look at the gallery.

"Make eye contact with some of the members of the gallery. These are the people we serve," Danyliuk said.

"The justice system doesn't exist for us — the lawyers and the judges. It exists for them ... It exists for the people of Saskatchewan and Canada."

Gallagher's father and stepmother, who sat in the gallery, nodded in agreement, as the judge condemned the delays.

Danyliuk made reference to the Taylor Kennedy trial, where the judge stayed her charge of impaired driving causing death because Kennedy was not tried within a reasonable time.

"We are not ending up like the recent Kennedy trial, where that judge was left with no alternative but to decide the way she did," Danyliuk said.

"This trial is not going to be the subject of a delay application ... I will do my utmost to ensure that this trial ends with a decision on its merits."

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Danyliuk referenced an Oct. 15, 2024 pre-trial meeting, where he learned the defence had been waiting for photocopies of evidence for 22 months.

"Twenty-two months goes by and no copies of those documents were put into his hands. Why? I don't know. I really don't know. I've never had an explanation, and frankly, that timing is ridiculous," Danyliuk told the court.

On Friday, the Crown filed notice to seek a publication ban on Henry and Peeteetuce's trial.

Danyliuk said he wasn't aware of the application until now, on Monday morning.

He called the request "last-minute" and "non-compliant with our procedures.” At least three-days notice must be provided for publication ban requests.

"This matter is kind of like a glass of water that gets built one drop at a time. At some point, a single drop, a single event, causes the glass to overflow. That's where I'm at," the judge said.

In the end, a publication ban was imposed — prohibiting any details or evidence at the trial from being reported.

Danyliuk ordered that any other applications must be filed by Wednesday at 4 p.m.

"Not a minute later. Not a day later. Not a second later. I do not care what you have to do to meet that deadline because this matter has been outstanding for months and months and months and months," the judge said.

"Hire an agent, get a smart student to help you, phone a friend, talk to a professor, I don't care. Get it done."

Nearly 40 days have been scheduled for Henry and Peeteetuce's trial.