Thomas Svekla stood trial in Edmonton in 2008 on two counts of second-degree murder. The Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta heard the case without a jury, and Justice Sterling Sanderman delivered separate verdicts on the two women named in the charges. He found Svekla guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Theresa Innes. He found him not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Rachel Quinney. The Innes verdict is a conviction that survived an appeal. The Quinney verdict is an acquittal, and the second death is not described as his killing.
Svekla worked as a mechanic in the Edmonton area. CTV News described him as 39 years old when the trial opened in February 2008 and as 40 when the verdict was announced. His sister and his mother both gave evidence at the trial. His birthplace and early life are not on record.
Rachel Quinney was 19. Her death in 2004 was the first matter that brought Svekla to the attention of investigators: he was questioned by police in 2004 and released. He later moved to High Level, in northern Alberta. Theresa Innes was 36. She was the mother of two. The case against Svekla in her death began in May 2006, when his sister called the police in Fort Saskatchewan. Svekla was arrested on May 8, 2006. A CTV timeline records that he appeared at the Fort Saskatchewan courthouse on May 11, 2006.
On January 2, 2007, the RCMP announced a second charge. A news release issued that day from Edmonton said Svekla, whose full name was given as Thomas George Svekla, had been charged with second-degree murder and offering an indignity to a human body in relation to the death of Rachel Quinney, and that he was to appear in Edmonton Provincial Court on January 4. The release noted that the first charges, in the Innes case, had been announced on May 9, 2006. It also said the Quinney family had been told of the new charges. The RCMP described the investigators as a joint task force with the Edmonton Police Service, reviewing more than 70 unsolved cases going back several decades.
A preliminary hearing began in Fort Saskatchewan on January 8, 2007, and Svekla entered his plea in an Edmonton courtroom on March 23, 2007. He pleaded not guilty. CTV reported that he was the first person charged by the task force.
Before the trial the court dealt with evidence gathered from Svekla after his arrest. Lawyers began arguing in October 2007 over whether recordings made by the police could be admitted. On January 17, 2008, a judge excluded key evidence because of an intense police interrogation and the denial of Svekla's request for a lawyer, while allowing most of the recorded evidence. CTV also reported on telephone calls between Svekla and his sister in August 2006, played in court, in which he said his lawyer had impressed him, said he expected to be found not guilty on every charge and said he had been set up.
The trial opened on February 19, 2008, before Justice Sanderman sitting alone. Svekla faced two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of offering an indignity to a body. The Crown prosecutor, Ashley Finlayson, told the court it would call more than 120 witnesses and described the case as circumstantial. The Crown had no confession and no eyewitness. Svekla's lawyer, Robert Shaigec, argued that the evidence was weak. The defence called no witnesses. The trial ran about three and a half months.
In closing arguments Finlayson asked the judge to convict on the strength of Svekla's own accounts. She said he had given differing explanations and had admitted to being a liar. She also pointed to the improbability that one man would be linked to two women who had died violently. For the defence, Shaigec raised the possibility that Quinney had died of other causes.
Justice Sanderman gave judgment on June 3, 2008. On the count concerning Theresa Innes he found Svekla guilty of second-degree murder, and also guilty of committing an indignity to her body. CTV quoted the judge: "I'm convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Svekla killed Ms. Innes." The judge rejected the explanations Svekla offered.
On the count concerning Rachel Quinney, Justice Sanderman found Svekla not guilty of second-degree murder. CBC reported the judge as saying there was "no compelling evidence that ties Svekla to Rachel Quinney." CTV reported that the judge found the Crown had failed to establish any link between Svekla and Quinney beyond one point of contact. He also described Svekla as a "needy attention-seeker" with an "over-inflated sense of his own importance," according to CBC. No separate result on the second indignity count is on record.
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Canada, with the judge setting the number of years before parole eligibility between 10 and 25. CBC reported that a sentencing hearing was set for June 16, 2008. Global News later reported that Svekla had been sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 17 years for the murder of Theresa Innes.
Svekla was convicted of further offences against other people after the murder trial. According to CBC, he was convicted in September 2008 of sexual assault and uttering threats in a case involving a woman in High Level in 2005, and in March 2009 of further offences in a 1995 case. Global News reported that he had been convicted earlier of sexually assaulting a woman in High Level in 2005 and threatening to kill her, and that the Crown sought a dangerous-offender designation. In January 2010 the Court of Queen's Bench heard closing arguments from Finlayson, who said four women had testified to attacks by Svekla and argued that he had a pattern of violence toward women going back to his teenage years. To be designated a dangerous offender, the Crown must prove either a singularly brutal act or a pattern of violent behaviour that is unlikely to stop and poses a likelihood of death, injury or severe psychological damage.
Justice Christine Eidsvik of the Court of Queen's Bench later declared Svekla a dangerous offender. CBC reported that she found the Crown had proved he would likely cause injury and pain in the future, and that she said he has "a pathology for which there is no cure." The designation means indefinite imprisonment. CBC repeated the sentence of life with no parole eligibility for 17 years on the murder count, and noted that he would remain in prison indefinitely.
Svekla appealed the murder conviction to the Court of Appeal of Alberta. The Red Deer Advocate reported on May 26, 2011 that the court dismissed the appeal and upheld the conviction for the death of Theresa Innes. His lawyer had argued that the trial judge wrongly relied on remarks Svekla made about a troubled past as evidence of the state of mind needed for murder. The Court of Appeal held that no single statement would have been enough to convict, but that the trial judge had properly weighed all of Svekla's statements together.
CTV reported before the verdict that police said they were also looking at Svekla in connection with six other deaths and two disappearances. No further charge is on record, and no other death has been the subject of a verdict. Those inquiries are not findings of any court.
In 2011 the Red Deer Advocate reported that the dangerous-offender designation effectively keeps him in prison for the rest of his life. No later court or parole decision is on record.
2004: Rachel Quinney, 19, dies; police question Svekla and release him.
May 7 to 8, 2006: police are called about Theresa Innes's death; Svekla is arrested on May 8.
May 9, 2006: the RCMP announce the first charges.
January 2, 2007: Svekla is charged with second-degree murder in Quinney's death.
January 8, 2007: preliminary hearing begins in Fort Saskatchewan.
March 23, 2007: plea entered in Edmonton.
January 17, 2008: key evidence excluded; most recorded evidence admitted.
February 19, 2008: trial opens before Justice Sanderman, judge alone.
June 3, 2008: guilty of second-degree murder (Innes); not guilty of second-degree murder (Quinney).
September 2008 and March 2009: further convictions in a 2005 case and a 1995 case.
January 2010: dangerous-offender hearing closing arguments.
Later: Justice Eidsvik declares Svekla a dangerous offender (date not on record).
May 26, 2011: the Court of Appeal of Alberta dismisses his appeal against the murder conviction.