An Onion Lake man pleaded guilty today in Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench to manslaughter in connection to the death of Tyson Blair Crosschild.
Defence lawyer Carl Swenson out of Saskatoon told reporters after court that Dakota Dean Whitstone, 22, wanted to spare his family “the impact of coming to court and going through a gruelling trial.”
Whitstone was charged with second-degree murder in 2018. Today he entered a plea of not guilty to those charges and entered a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
“He wants to make sure everyone knows that he accepts responsibility and he misses his brother,” said Swenson outside the court, adding that Crosschild was Whitstone’s brother-in-law.
“It’s really hard for him. He just wants to bring some closure to the case and move on.”
Swenson said Whitstone and Crosschild “got into a fight and it went too far.”
North Battleford Crown Prosecutor Oryn Holm told the court that he accepted the guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
A 10-day judge and jury trial was scheduled to run from Sept. 21 to Oct. 2 and as potential jurors showed up Monday morning they were told they were no longer needed.
Chief Justice M.D. Popescul told the court that he was informed Sunday evening that the trial wasn’t proceeding and a guilty plea would be entered.
According to RCMP, police were called to a home on Onion Lake Cree Nation Aug. 11, 2018 where they found Crosschild, 30, in medical distress. Police and medical personnel performed life-saving measures but Crosschild was later pronounced deceased at a hospital.
Police arrested Whitstone in August 2018. He was released on bail while waiting for trial and Alberta RCMP arrested him for firearms-related offences. On two firearms charges out of Alberta, Whitstone was sentenced to 120 days on each charge. He was then held in custody in Saskatchewan while he waited for his trial on the second-degree murder charge.
Swenson said Whitstone’s breach charges out of Alberta will be moved to Saskatchewan and dealt with the same day he is sentenced.
Whitstone was remanded in custody until his sentencing hearing on Nov. 13.
Chief Justice M.D. Popescul ordered a pre-sentence report and asked that it take any Gladue factors into consideration. According to Canada’s Criminal Code, it is the duty of judges to “address explicitly an aboriginal offender’s circumstances, and the systemic and background factors that contributed to those circumstances.” The Gladue principles state that restorative justice may be more appropriate for Aboriginal offenders. Restorative justice focuses on healing those affected by the criminal act, including the offender, which is more in line with traditional Aboriginal justice. This restorative justice approach is also meant to act as a solution to reducing the over-representation of Aboriginals in Canadian jails.
