SASKATOON – The Crown prosecuting Greg Fertuck for murder in the disappearance of his estranged wife Sheree Fertuck wants to re-open its case on the voir dire to present new evidence that the Crown didn’t have when it closed its case on the voir dire.
Justice Richard Danyliuk’s decision on the voir dire, which wrapped up in January, was set for March 30 but the case has now been adjourned. If the defense consents to the application, the Crown will reveal the nature of their new evidence at a hearing April 29.
During case management Thursday, which media was allowed to attend, Prosecutor Cory Bliss told Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench that the RCMP has presented the Crown with new evidence.
The judge alone trial has been in a voir dire to determine if statements Fertuck made to undercover RCMP officers during a Mr. Big sting should be admissible as evidence.
Defence Mike Nolin told the court that he doesn’t have instructions from his client on whether the defence will consent or oppose the voir dire being reopened, but added that the evidence will likely be admissible in the trial proper.
“Not consenting to it in a voir dire is pointless,” said Nolin. “I don’t suspect the Crown will have much difficulty convincing you its admissible.”
Justice Danyliuk said out of an abundance of caution he still needs to “hear the evidence," adding that verdicts in Mr. Big operations are often appealed.
Mr. Big stings are covert operations used by the RCMP where undercover police pose as fictitious criminal organizations to gain a confession. Before the RCMP launch a Mr. Big sting, they place the suspect under surveillance for weeks to learn about his habits and personality. They then come up with an interactive scenario for the suspect.
Fertuck, 68, was arrested June 24, 2016, near Saskatoon and charged with first-degree murder after he told an undercover officer posing as a crime boss in a Mr. Big sting that he shot his estranged wife twice with a .22 calibre rifle and put her body in the gravel pit, court heard.
Fertuck's trial started September 2021 and has been adjourned several times.
On Dec. 7, 2015, 51-year-old Sheree Fertuck was last seen leaving her family’s farmhouse near Kenaston to haul rock to a nearby gravel pit. The body of the mother of three has never been found. In April 2016, police determined that Sheree Fertuck was a victim of a homicide.
Defence Morris Bodnar told the court today he wants to get this moving as Fertuck has been in jail on remand for almost three years.
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