Judge convicts Brocket man of second-degree murder

By Lethbridge Herald on October 27, 2023.

Geoff Crow Eagle Jr., Tregan Crow Eagle’s uncle, along with other family members, including Tregan’s mother Yolanda Crow Eagle, at right, speaks to reporters outside the courthouse Thursday following Dustin Big Bull’s second-degree murder conviction. Herald photo by Delon Shurtz

Delon Shurtz – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – dshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A judge rejected a Brocket man’s claim of self defence in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old boy three years ago, and convicted him of second-degree murder Thursday in Lethbridge Court of King’s Bench.

Madam Justice Johanna Price said while there is an “air of reality of self defence” in Dustin Big Bull’s case, his reaction was unreasonable and disproportionate to any threat he may have felt from the younger and smaller Tregan Crow Eagle when the two approached each other, knives in hand, on July 22, 2020.

Big Bull testified during his trial in September that he became drunk while drinking “home brew” at a house in Brocket, and after he and his girlfriend left to walk to his house, Crow Eagle followed them. When they arrived at Big Bull’s house, and Crow Eagle followed them inside, Big Bull punched him in the face, threw him against a table then repeatedly struck him until he lost consciousness.

Big Bull and his girlfriend left the bleeding Crow Eagle lying on the floor and went to the other house where he continued to drink alcohol and consume drugs. An hour or more later they returned to his own house, and as they walked through his yard he saw Crow Eagle standing under a tree. Big Bull testified that as Crow Eagle approached him, and when the two were only about five feet apart, he noticed Crow Eagle was holding a knife at his side, so he pulled out his own knife and stabbed him twice in the neck and three times in the torso.

During closing arguments on Sept. 28, Calgary lawyer Andre Ouellette acknowledged his client pulled out a knife and stabbed Crow Eagle.

“There’s no question that Big Bull caused the death of Mr. Crow Eagle,” Ouellette said. However, that doesn’t mean Big Bull’s actions were criminal and weren’t warranted, Ouellette added.

“It is clear, as well, under Section 34 (of the Criminal Code), that a person is not guilty of a criminal offence if he believes on reasonable grounds that force was necessary to protect himself.”

Ouellette said Big Bull was forced to protect himself when Crow Eagle approached him with a knife.

“He has no choice at that point but to take the steps he did to defend himself,” Ouellette said.

Big Bull then dragged Crow Eagle’s body across a field and dumped it in some bushes.

Crown prosecutor Lisa Weich said Big Bull was not acting in self defence and could have reacted differently.

“Why did he have to stab Tregan?” she asked.

She said Big Bull’s response was not proportionate to the perceived threat and Big Bull could have backed away, told Crow Eagle to stop, or even warned him that he had his own knife.

“Was the accused’s conduct reasonable in the circumstances?”

Weich said there was no evidence to suggest Crow Eagle intended to attack Big Bull with his knife, and as he walked toward the older man he wasn’t holding the knife out threateningly, or making stabbing motions. Weich also pointed out Big Bull is several inches taller than Crow Eagle and at least 40 pounds heavier and much stronger.

Justice Price agreed, and said Thursday Crow Eagle did not threaten Big Bull in any way, and because he was brutally beaten by Big Bull only a short time earlier, he may have had the knife to protect himself. Big Bull could have walked away, she said, or warned Crow Eagle that he also had a knife.

Instead, Big Bull pulled out his knife, stepped toward Crow Eagle, grabbed the hand that was holding the knife, and stabbed him in the neck. The momentum caused them to fall to the ground, where Big Bull stabbed Crow eagle three more times. After he stood up, Big Bull kicked the dying boy.

Price acknowledged that Big Bull was extremely intoxicated by alcohol and drugs at the time, but she said Big Bull’s own testimony suggested he was not so intoxicated that he didn’t know what he was doing.

“He knew full well what he was doing. He was in control of his faculties.”

Crow Eagle’s body was found in a small thicket of shrubs near the wastewater pond on the Piikani Nation five days after he was killed. The body, discovered during a search by family and friends, was covered by a blue tarp, and was near the garbage dump about half a kilometre east of the Brocket townsite.

There was an audible sigh of relief from Crow Eagle’s family following Price’s decision, and outside the courtroom afterward Crow Eagle’s mother, Yolanda, said she had been praying Big Bull would not be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

“I was happy to hear (the verdict),” she said.

Big Bull’s conviction will finally give the family some closure, Yolanda said, and she hopes he receives the longest prison sentence allowed.

“He took away my son’s life. Now I will never see him, I’ll never see him grow up to be a man, to give me grandkids. He took all that away from me. And now what I want for him is to be behind bars for what he took from me and my family.”

Big Bull was also convicted of causing an indignity to human remains, which Ouellette had previously conceded, and Price is expected to rule on a charge that will be transferred from the court of justice that alleges Big Bull breached a non-communication order for contacting  a woman while he was in remand custody at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre.

Following her decision, Price ordered a Gladue report, which will provide the court with Big Bull’s background, personal circumstances and challenges, as well as historical issues facing his family and Indigenous people that continue to impact their lives. The matter is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 8, 2024 to see if the report is done, and to set a date for a sentencing hearing, possibly later that month.

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