Manslaughter pleas in Gallagher case end Saskatoon murder trial

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Megan Gallagher’s father Brian said they were not expecting pleas, and are left wondering how things went from first-degree to manslaughter.

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Megan Michelle Gallagher’s family and friends sobbed and held each other in a Saskatoon King’s Bench courtroom on Thursday as two women on trial for first-degree murder pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Gallagher’s death.

The guilty pleas to the lesser included offence came on the heels of an in-camera (closed court) hearing on Tuesday, and ended what was scheduled to be a 39-day, judge-alone trial for Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce and Summer-Sky Jodylynn Henry.

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“To hear the word manslaughter, it hit me in the gut real hard,” Gallagher’s father Brian told reporters outside court.

He said the pleas were a surprise, and left family members wondering how things went from first-degree murder to manslaughter.

“No idea, and again that’s part of that silence that’s just the reality of the justice system, I think,” he said.

Summer-Sky Henry
Summer-Sky Henry (Saskatoon Police) Photo by Photo provided by Saskatoon poli

The murder trial began on Jan. 6 and was in the midst of hearing pretrial applications when the case was set over to an in-camera hearing on Thursday and Friday.

Regional Crown prosecutor Val Adamko and senior Crown prosecutor Bill Burge were in court, along with Crown prosecutor Tyla Olenchuk, when the matter was brought forward on Tuesday. Journalists and Gallagher’s family attended, but were told court would be closed.

Justice Richard Danyliuk was the presiding judge. On Jan. 6, he expressed frustration over various application delays leading up to the trial.

“No more delays, no more late files, no more failing communications. Be ready,” he told lawyers.

Danyliuk issued an interim publication ban, at the Crown’s request, that prevented the reporting of any evidence during the trial to protect the outstanding jury trials of two co-accused men.

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For the same reason, Justice Mona Dovell continued the publication ban on the agreed statement of facts presented to her on Thursday, giving the media an opportunity to challenge the application on Jan. 22.

Sentencing was adjourned to that same day to hear victim impact statements and submissions from Olenchuk and defence lawyers Chris Murphy and Mike Buchinski. Crown co-counsel Carla Dewar was absent during Tuesday’s in-camera hearing and Thursday’s guilty pleas.

“We deeply respect the work that the Crown has been doing, the two people that have been there, we deeply respect the work that the police did to get us to this point; but how it gets derailed like this … I know it doesn’t make sense to the average person, either. It doesn’t make sense to me,” Brian said.

Gallagher, 30, disappeared on Sept. 20, 2020. The Saskatoon mother’s remains were found two years later along the banks of the South Saskatchewan River near St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2022.

Cheyann Peeteetuce
Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce was sentenced in 2015 in connection with a fatal crash that killed two Saskatoon teens in 2014. Photo by Greg Pender /The StarPhoenix

Peeteetuce, 31, and Henry, 26, were among nine people charged in 2022.

During their sentencing hearings in 2023, court heard Jessica Faye Badger, John Wayne Sanderson and Ernest Vernon Whitehead were involved in disposing of Gallagher’s body. All three pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to human remains.

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Last month, Robert “Bobby” Thomas was sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 18 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The details heard at his sentencing hearing, including his involvement in Gallagher’s death, were also banned from publication to protect the upcoming jury trials.

“When we hear the realities of so many people being involved in taking one woman, there is still no universe where that will ever be acceptable. Our women are to be respected and they’re to be put in the highest regard,” Brian said on Thursday.

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