Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Sept 03/01) - The longest jury trial held in Fort Smith concluded Aug. 30 after seven days of testimony and evidence and nearly three days of deliberation on a 25-count indictment.

Gordon Gerrard Moreau, an unemployed Fort Smith carpenter, faced 17 counts of assault, three counts of assault causing bodily harm and five counts of sexual assault.

On an application from the defence council, Justice Virginia Schuler increased the original 14-count indictment to 25 counts during the trial.

It was felt that it would be easier for the jury to understand each allegation made by the Crown.

The jury found Moreau guilty on six counts of assault and one count of assault causing bodily harm. On two charges of assault, the jury could not reach a decision.

Both defence and prosecution had presented their cases last Tuesday and the jury left to deliberate at 1:50 p.m. They continued until 9:30 p.m. when they were sequestered in a local hotel for the night.

Deliberations began again at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and carried on until 8 p.m. when the jury was again taken to the hotel.

Following the seven guilty verdicts, the defence asked for time to present a pre-sentence report to the court.

That report will be heard in Yellowknife court on Oct. 25 and Moreau will be held in custody until that hearing.

In his 18 years of practice and 40 jury trials, defence lawyer Stephen Shebala has never seen a decision take this long.

"I've never seen a jury give so much consideration to a case, notwithstanding the fact that they had 25 charges to consider," Shebala said.

While the defence team was relieved Moreau was acquitted on the sexual assault charges and most of the others. Shebala said they'd hoped for better.

"The Crown brought every allegation they had against Mr. Moreau to trial," Shebala said. "It's difficult for any man to defend himself against 25 charges in any one proceeding, especially given the fact that all these charges are quite historical.

"I thought we could have done a little bit better, but on the other hand, we do appreciate the fact that the jury did an excellent job."

The case for the Crown was presented by Loretta Colton and Carolyn Carasco.

Carasco would not indicate what length of sentence the Crown would be seeking, but said they will be seeking a jail term.

"We felt the trial went very smoothly," Carasco said. "We were happy the way the evidence went in.

"The jury was diligent and it was a long wait, but I think they had a lot of work cut out for them and it appears that they deliberated very carefully."

Carasco said the two charges that the jury was deadlocked over will be put on the crown's schedule list and they will decide whether or not to proceed with re-trying the charges.