Gerald Stanley’s defence lawyer has issued his first public statement since the Saskatchewan farmer’s acquittal in the death of 22-year-old Colten Boushie.
The lawyer, Scott Spencer, emailed the three-paragraph statement to a handful of reporters Thursday, one day after the province’s top prosecutor announced the Crown will not be appealing the not guilty verdict.
“On behalf of the Stanley family, and my team, I offer our unreserved condolences to the Boushie/Baptiste family,” the statement read.
“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. There is no going back; there is no making it right.
“We hope that with time the Boushie/Baptiste family can begin to heal.”
Stanley was found not guilty Feb. 9 by a jury in Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench. The 56-year-old had been charged with second-degree murder in the August 2016 death of Boushie, a Red Pheasant First Nation man shot in the head while he was sitting in the driver’s seat of an SUV that had been driven onto Stanley's property near Biggar.
