The Crown argues a high-ranking Terror Squad member fatally shot Dylan Phillips during a gang mission robbery, while the defence argues Shaylin Sutherland-Kayseas was acting outside of the gang when she accidentally pulled the trigger.
The former theory would prove first-degree murder, because it was done either for the benefit of or in association with a criminal organization.
The latter would prove manslaughter.
At her first-degree murder trial in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench, Sutherland-Kayseas said she shot Phillips in his home in the 1400 block of Avenue G North during a botched drug robbery on Oct. 14, 2016.
How it happened — and her reasons for doing so — are up for debate.
The criminal organization element
Prosecutor Melodi Kujawa said Sutherland-Kayseas was engaged in a gang activity when she admitted, on cross-examination, that she and two other gang members went to “tax” Phillips. Court heard “taxing” meant taking something from someone.
Kujawa said the Crown’s most powerful evidence is the language she used in phone calls she made from jail, including “I’m council now.”
Shaylin Sutherland-Kayseas is on trial at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench, charged with the first-degree murder of Dylan Phillips on Oct. 14, 2016.
Court heard from a Terror Squad expert that “council” is a higher position. Kujawa said this proves Sutherland-Kayseas moved up the ranks as a result of the shooting.
The accused testified she was “boasting,” which only proves she aspired to move up, defence lawyer Jessie Buydens argued.
The Crown argued the robbery was done for the benefit of the Terror Squad to send a message that this was their territory. The drug trade is how the gang makes money, and Sutherland-Kayseas benefited by making council.
“She went on a successful mission on behalf of her criminal organization,” co-counsel Christy Pannell said.
Justice Shawn Smith called the robbery an “epic fail” because Phillips was shot before any drugs or money were taken, and the gun was left at the scene.
Clothing found in the trunk of Shaylin Sutherland-Kayseas’s car. She is on trial for the first-degree murder of 26-year-old Dylan Phillips.
Buydens said there’s no evidence the gang benefited from Sutherland-Kayseas’s botched robbery. Phillips was not a gang member, and the accused said she decided to rob him because her co-accused knew him and said he had drugs.
Previous case law states there needs to be a connection between the crime and the gang — not just the accused and the gang.
“Just because you’re a Rider fan doesn’t mean your offences benefit the Riders, right?” Buydens said outside court.
Murder or manslaughter?
Buydens said Sutherland-Kayseas accidentally pulled the trigger of a gun she didn’t know was loaded after Phillips lunged at her weapon. Both her client and Phillips’s mother, who witnessed the shooting, said things happened quickly when Phillips moved toward the accused.
However, Jan Phillips testified the gun went off before her son moved. She was not asked if Phillips tried to grab the gun, Kujawa said.
Obituary photo of Dylan Edward Robert Phillips.
Sutherland-Kayseas also told police she shot Phillips to defend herself and her “family,” Kujawa noted.
In doing so, and from such close range, she either intended to kill Phillips or to cause him bodily harm that she knew could kill him, Kujawa said, arguing the shooting is second-degree murder if the criminal organization element isn’t met for first-degree.
“There’s no accident. There’s no losing the grip on the gun. A reflex is not an accident; it’s defending oneself,” Kujawa said.
She argued Phillips’s mother is a more reliable witness than Sutherland-Kayseas, a meth user who lied to police. Buydens said her client lied to protect her two co-accused, which is consistent throughout her calls from jail, police interview and testimony at trial.
One of the co-accused refused to testify for the Crown, while the defence opted not to call the other.
Smith reserved his decision until Sept. 28.