By EverythingGP staff

Court

Murder trial resumes in Grande Prairie court

Apr 12, 2023 | 6:00 AM

UPDATE: Simon De Lima finished his witness testimony Wednesday morning at the first degree murder trial of Cody Letourneau.

De Lima has already pleaded guilty to first degree murder and has admitted he shot Kyler Commandeur in June of 2020.

When asked during a second round of questions from the Crown, De Lima said no when asked if he had been promised anything for pleading guilty and also answered no when asked if he had received any benefit from his guilty plea.

He answered yes when asked if he was represented by a lawyer at the time if he had signed an agreed statement of facts, had those facts explained to him, and if he had accepted these facts.

Questions came up on Tuesday as to why De Lima pleaded guilty in December to first degree murder but was not being sentenced until May when this charge has a mandatory sentence of life with no chance of parole for 25 years.

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Melissa Healey also started testifying on Wednesday. She is currently serving a two-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to an unlawful confinement charge in connection with Commandeur’s murder.

A first degree murder trial for Cody Letourneau resumed Tuesday in Grande Prairie court.

He was one of the people charged in the June 2020 shooting death of Kyler Commandeur along Highway 677 west of Highway 2 near the Woking turnoff.

The trial had originally started in February but was adjourned.

At court Monday, Letourneau’s defence council spent the day questioning Simon De Lima, who has already pleaded guilty to first degree murder and has been identified as the shooter.

De Lima only speaks French and proceedings had to be interrupted at times over questions about the translation.

The Crown had conducted its direct examination of De Lima in the February portion of the trial, so he testified under cross examination from defence counsel Monday.

He communicated with the others through Cody or through an app.

De Lima answered yes when asked if he had shot Commandeur after getting tired of driving around and if it was a split-second decision.

This led to a discussion about how he could have admitted to first degree murder if it was a spontaneous act, something considered second degree murder. The defence said it had never seen anything like this and questioned, if De Lima had pleaded guilty late in 2022, why he is not being sentenced until May when there is a mandatory sentence of life with no chance of parole for 25 years for first degree murder.

The Crown argued that had pleaded guilty, was represented by counsel, had signed an agreed statement of facts, and even apologized to the family.

The Crown went on to argue that Letourneau had told De Lima to come over to a house where they were gathered and told De Lima how to carry out the shooting and that Letourneau had gotten a call from De Lima saying it had been done.

De Lima had earlier denied he admitted to shooting Commandeur during an interview with police after the police told him the other four who were originally charged had all pointed the finger at him.

The trial is scheduled to run through April 21.