Court views 3D scan of crime scene at Blacksmith murder trial

The Crown attorneys in a Brandon murder trial presented an interactive 3D scan of the crime scene where a 21-year-old man was fatally shot in 2023 on Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

Jeremy Blacksmith, 43, stands trial in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench after he pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Blaze Tacan, as well as two weapons offences.

Crown attorneys Sarah Kok and Rich Lonstrup called Cpl. John MacNevin, who has been working in the forensics unit for 10 of his 16 years as a member of the RCMP, to the stand on Friday. On Aug 5, 2023, he responded to a call that someone had been shot in the head.

While on scene, MacNevin said, another member gave him an update that emergency medical services were preparing the victim to be transported to the hospital, and two suspects were in custody.

MacNevin testified that he observed a blood pool in the middle of the road and a piece of skin with hair still attached. He took photos of the scene and placed placards — bright yellow, tent-shaped markers — at areas of interest, he said.

He was later updated that a firearm and ammunition had been found, which he stored in a locker until he took photos of the items and tested them for fingerprints, MacNevin testified.

“It is a Springfield Model 67. It has a short kind of pistol grip handle, which is not normal for that kind of shotgun. It’s a 12-gauge shotgun, bolt action. So, this handle at some point must have been cut,” he said, pointing to a photo of it. “I couldn’t find a serial number on it as well.”

MacNevin said he did not find fingerprints on either the firearm or the ammunition, which consisted of a birdshot and four slugs, one of which was spent.

He said he also obtained a 3D scan of the crime scene, which took roughly an hour.

Once the scanner is set up, he said, “it will take a laser dot and shoot it around two million times per second, and these dots will then be captured to recreate the scene so that we can move around and take measurements so we can see the scene in its entirety.”

When the scanner finishes, which takes around five minutes, MacNevin said he moves it to another location and repeats that process several times to get a “full wraparound representation of the scene.”

MacNevin manipulated the software from the Crown’s table, showing the court how it worked. He first showed an overhead view of the scene, scattered with roughly eight red dots, which is where the scanner was placed.

“By clicking the red dot, I can then go into that first-person view to show the scene itself.”

Kok asked him to click on the red dot placed in a driveway, where multiple witnesses testified they viewed the shooting from during the first two days of the trial. The software allows the user to measure the distance between any two points and MacNevin showed that the distance between this location and the blood pool was roughly 18 metres.

She also asked MacNevin to measure the distances between the blood pool and where each witness testified seeing Blacksmith at the time of the shooting.

“You heard from a number of Crown witnesses who would have been on scene, describing their various locations and where they would have been, in comparison to other items that were on scene, such as the location of the blood,” Kok told Justice Elliot Leven.

“We’re just trying to assist the court in providing a fulsome picture and an actual representation.”

Leven asked if it was agreed that if a person was standing in the middle of the blood pool, another person sitting or standing at the location of the witnesses would have a direct line of sight.

The lawyers confirmed this was agreed, and defence lawyer Anthony Dawson later specified that they were agreeing only that the witnesses would have had a clear sight of Tacan.

Sgt. Janna Amirault, who has been a member of the RCMP for just under 25 years, also took the stand.

She testified that she advised Blacksmith that he would be charged with second-degree murder after Tacan had been pronounced dead, while Blacksmith was being held at the Virden RCMP detachment.

Amirault said she read Blacksmith a “scripted arrest sheet,” which listed his charges.

“His response to me was, ‘Did he pass away?’” she testified.

When she responded that he did, she said Blacksmith started swearing and said, “I can’t deal with this. I can’t believe this happened.”

The trial continues.

» sanderson@brandsonsun.com