Images of a body chamber used by the Provincial Police of Ontario (OPP) const. Greg Pierzchala will show the moment when he was shot while responding to a vehicle in a ditch in December 2022 outside Hagersville, the crown told the opening of the trial for first degree murder of the two defendants.
The prosecutor of the Crown Fraser McKracken also said Thursday that he will show a drafted version of the jury on Friday when he interviews the spectators who said they witnessed the shooting.
Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Serry have declared them innocent of First degree murder. Both defendants have their own defense lawyers for the trial.
At the time of Pierzchala’s death, he was 28 years old and the police said he was killed the same day he knew that his 10 -month probation period had passed with the OPP.
After the Crown Opening Declaration on Thursday, the court began to take into account the witnesses who said they stopped next to the road to help McKenzie and Stewart-Spperry after his car ended up in the trench.
A couple traveling to Christmas dinner offered to call a taxi or road assistance, said McKracken. A mother and a daughter on her way to the service station offered to give an elevator to the couple.
The last person who stopped to help McKenzie and Stewart-Spperry was Pierzchala, according to the court. The crown alleges while McKenzie pressed the trigger, Stewart-Serpery helped him.
The judge of the Superior Court of Ontario, Andrew Goodman, presides over the trial. It is celebrated in Cayuga, a community near Hagersville, and is expected to last six weeks.
Others stopped to help 2 after the vehicle entered a ditch
McKracken described several instances of drivers who stopped next to McKenzie and Stewart-Serry near the city’s line and concession 14 before Pierzchala, which was parked in the area, arrived.
The officer saw that two spectators were with the defendants, said McKRacken. Pierzchala lit the camera of his body before leaving the car, and told the others that he was recording his interaction and trying to discover what happened, according to Court.
According to McKracken, Stewart-Spperry told the officer that he was watching a map and deviated. While talking, McKenzie moved to Pierzchala. He had a hidden gun in his hooded kangaroo pocket, said the prosecutor, and used it to shoot Pierzchala six times.
The crown called four witnesses on Thursday. The lawyers asked them to describe what happened when they stopped to help McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry, and to describe the scene.
According to the crown, after McKenzie shot the officer, demanded the keys of the spectators and stole his car, fleeing with Stewart-Spery. A different passerby persecuted them in his vehicle but lost sight of where they left, said McKRacken.
Using the vehicle safety system, the police tracked the car to a house in Mississauga Road in Mississaugas of the first credit nation, McKRacken said.
He said that McKenzie’s family lived in that house, and some of his family members, including his brother and the council, will be called to testify.
Police chased the defendants on foot and from the air, the jury listens
A family member warned the defendants that the police came and that the two fled to the forest, they told the court. When the police pursued them on foot, an OPP officer in a helicopter tracked the couple with thermal images.
The two fled and then separated. Stewart-Sperry gave up shortly after, followed by McKenzie Surdering, said the crown.
According to McKracken, the helicopter officer observed McKenzie rule out a gun, which the police recovered and forensic scientists identified as the same personalized gun used in Pierzchala’s shooting.
McKenzie also had a phone that included text messages of December 14, 2022. It is uncertain at this time if those texts will be presented as evidence.
