An undercover police officer says the intention of a five-month operation involving alleged murderer Joseph ‘David’ Caissie was to discover the truth about what happened to his girlfriend Carol King, not to elicit a confession.
Caissie, now 55, could have denied any involvement in the killing, the officer noted on Thursday in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench. His identity and those of all other undercover officers involved in the case are protected by a publication ban.
Caissie told the officer he tied King up, drove her around, stabbed her, left her body in a field and submerged her car in a slough. He said King was trying to make false allegations against him in order to get all the money from the sale of their house.
In 2016, Caissie was charged with first-degree murder in connection with King’s historical death. The 40-year-old woman’s body was found in an abandoned farmyard near Herschel on Aug. 27, 2011, following a three-week search.
Five years later, police launched an undercover operation, known as a “Mr. Big” sting. It is the subject of a voir dire hearing, or trial within a trial, to determine if the evidence gathered during the sting will be admissible at Caissie’s trial.
The undercover officers befriended Caissie in February 2016 when they arranged for him to win a fake contest to an Edmonton Oilers game. The officers portrayed themselves as members of a criminal organization, and offered to pay Caissie for lucrative jobs with the possibility of full-time employment.
The caveat was that Caissie had to be truthful about any past behaviour that could bring unwanted attention to the organization.
Defence lawyer Kevin Hill suggested the officer, who was cross-examined for much of Thursday, preyed on his client’s vulnerabilities when it came to money — which played a significant role in Caissie’s relationship with the fictitious underworld.
Caissie often talked about wanting to make “easy money” and needing to provide for his family, Hill said. The organization dangled the carrot of a large job with the potential to make a big paycheck.
The reward structure was set up for Caissie to tell the truth, not confess, the officer said.
He did not consider Caissie to be vulnerable, he testified, calling him a “wheeler and dealer” who didn’t necessarily need money, and who was encouraged to get another job beyond the criminal group.
Hill told the officer he was grooming Caissie by bringing up his past. When Caissie initially told the officer that his girlfriend went missing and was found dead, the officer suggested Caissie got away with it and that it made him an asset to the organization.
There was an incentive for Caissie to represent himself a certain way, Hill argued.
Another undercover officer testified on Thursday that Caissie told him, out of nowhere, that he’d killed his girlfriend.
A series of confessions, with increasingly more details, followed.
Hill accused the officer on the stand of “praising” Caissie about telling the other officer what he’d done. The officer said there’s a difference between letting Caissie know he’s OK with what he did, and liking it.