Crown says Blacksmith confessions ‘make sense’

During closing arguments in the Jeremy Blacksmith trial, the Crown said the only believable testimony from the accused was his confession to fatally shooting Blaze Tacan in 2023.

“He made it clear very early that he had no interest in telling the truth, and that carried straight through his testimony in court up until he realized the game was up and it was time to be honest,” Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Wednesday.

Blacksmith, 43, previously pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Tacan, along with two weapons offences.

The accused took the stand on Tuesday and, during cross-examination, admitted to shooting the 21-year-old with a sawed-off shotgun in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

Blacksmith was expected to enter a new plea Tuesday afternoon, but when the court clerk read the three charges to him, he pleaded not guilty. Without a guilty plea, the Crown bears the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and the trial moved on to closing arguments on Wednesday.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok, who also read a portion of the closing arguments, said that while the civilian witnesses who were called to the stand had minor discrepancies, the “essential elements and basis of their evidence” were consistent and reliable when compared to one another.

“The consistency between all of their evidence should be given conclusive weight, especially when that’s compared to the accused’s own evidence,” she said.

Kok said Blacksmith’s “denials” throughout his statements to police and earlier in his testimony cannot be believed, but that his “confessions make perfect sense.”

Lonstrup detailed the inconsistencies in Blacksmith’s statements to police and in his testimony, including that he first told police Tacan shot himself in the head before he said “they” shot him, referring to the people who were around him at the time of the shooting.

Before admitting to shooting Tacan, Blacksmith said during his testimony that a 17-year-old boy who was with him had shot Tacan.

Lonstrup said the court should accept his confession, since not only did it make sense, but he didn’t just “blindly agree” with the Crown’s suggestion that he was the one who shot and killed Tacan.

“I asked the ultimate question … after a long pause, he admits he shot Blaze and a series of other questions too – coming up the path, taking aim at him, shooting him with a gun he knew was loaded,” he said. “He was, in that moment, very clearly making a legitimate acceptance of responsibility.”

Lonstrup further said that in Blacksmith’s statement to police on Aug. 6, the day after the shooting, he made his “motive” clear, as he detailed how he and the youth had been bullied, threatened and attacked in the community since 2019 by Tacan and his peers.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison said that there were several inconsistencies between the witnesses’ testimonies.

“There’s a lot of inconsistencies, and it’s important that they’re from Crown witnesses more than defence witnesses,” Harrison said.

He said that the youth, who Blacksmith accused of killing Tacan at one point, was “hostile” toward him during cross-examination and noted that he said he “didn’t want to go back to jail.”

Blacksmith also previously said that one of his reasons for lying to the police was to protect the youth.

“What better way, frankly, to protect (him) than to tell the Crown he shot Blaze?” Harrison said, referring to Blacksmith’s admissions.

Justice Elliot Leven reserved his decision, and Blacksmith’s matter will next appear in February.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com