The Crown Questions Legebokoff: CKPG News on His Cross-Examination, Prince George, 2014

A CKPG News report on the Crown's cross-examination of Cody Legebokoff, which used scene photos and his police interviews to challenge his account of Loren Leslie's death and of unnamed drug dealers.

Subject

Cody Alan Legebokoff

Recorded

about August 27, 2014

Runtime

1:50

Content warning: Concerns the murders of three women and a 15-year-old girl; the report recounts, as his testimony, a violent death involving a wrench.

The Interview

This is a CKPG News report from Prince George, B.C., most likely broadcast on August 27, 2014, the day after Cody Legebokoff began testifying at his first-degree murder trial. It is not an interview with Legebokoff, and he is not heard: a CKPG reporter describes how the Crown prosecutor cross-examined him, using photographs from the scene of Loren Leslie's death and transcripts of his police interviews to argue that his account did not add up.

Historical Context

Between October 2009 and November 2010, four women and girls were killed in and near Prince George: Jill Stuchenko, 35; Natasha Montgomery, 23, whose body has never been found; Cynthia Maas, 35; and Loren Leslie, 15. On November 27, 2010, an RCMP officer stopped Legebokoff's truck as it pulled out of a remote logging road near Vanderhoof; Loren Leslie's body was found along that road. He was charged with all four murders by October 2011 and tried by a jury in the B.C. Supreme Court at Prince George from June 2014.

Circumstances of the Recording

He admitted being involved in the deaths of three of the women but blamed drug dealers he refused to name, and claimed that Loren Leslie had injured herself. The next day it was the Crown's turn to question him. The prosecutor was Crown counsel Joseph Temple.

What the Interview Covers

The report says the Crown began with Loren Leslie's death. Legebokoff had testified that on the way from Vanderhoof to Fort St. James the two of them turned off the highway, that she got out and began hitting herself with a wrench, and that he "put her out of her misery". The Crown showed scene photographs and asked why there was no blood in that area, suggesting the story was fabricated. Legebokoff admitted he had lied to police when he said he had stumbled on her body in the woods. The Crown suggested the drug dealers did not exist and that he had invented them to distance himself from being seen as a sexual predator, whom federal inmates target. The report adds that the victims' families did not want to speak until the trial was over.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report records the prosecution's challenge to the account Legebokoff gave the jury. The jury rejected that account: on September 11, 2014, it found him guilty of all four counts of first-degree murder.

Archival Importance

With its companion report, this is a day-by-day local record, from the city where the murders took place, of the account Legebokoff gave in his own defense at trial.

Important Caveats

The account of Loren Leslie's death given here is Legebokoff's claim as reported, and the jury rejected it. Legebokoff is not heard; the description of the cross-examination is the reporter's. The report says he would likely face contempt charges for refusing to name the drug dealers; the judge said a contempt application would be heard at the end of the trial, but whether any such charge was laid has not been verified, so the page should not say it was. The date of the broadcast is inferred. The transcript rests on a machine transcript only.

Anchor: Accused killer Cody Legebokoff was back on the witness stand today. It was the Crown's turn to question him. In photo after photo and line by line in interview transcripts, the Crown lawyer tried to prove that Legebokoff's story doesn't add up.

Reporter: Crown counsel Joseph Temple came to the Prince George courthouse with plenty of questions. He started with the case of Loren Leslie. Cody Legebokoff testified he and Leslie decided to turn off the highway on their way from Vanderhoof to Fort St. James. According to Legebokoff, Leslie got out of the pickup truck, went around to the front, started hitting herself with a wrench, and that he just put her out of her misery. The Crown took out photos from the scene and asked Legebokoff why there wasn't any blood in that area, suggesting the story was fabricated. The Crown turned to transcripts of interviews Legebokoff did with police. Legebokoff admitted that he'd been lying in those interviews when he said he'd stumbled upon Leslie in the woods and that hers was the first body he'd ever seen.

Reporter: Tuesday, Cody Legebokoff admitted to being involved in the killings of Jill Stuchenko, Cynthia Maas and Natasha Montgomery. However, he refused to name the drug dealers who he said actually carried out those murders. The Crown suggested there were no drug dealers involved. Temple suggested to the jury Legebokoff made them up. Temple said federal inmates target sexual predators and suggested Legebokoff wants to distance himself from that. As for victims' family members, they don't want to speak until the trial is over. They don't want to say anything that might compromise the case. Neither the Crown nor defense would give an estimate on how long the trial would continue. The jury will be back next Tuesday. After the trial wraps up, Legebokoff will likely be back in court. He will face contempt charges because he won't reveal the identities of the drug dealers. [About 01:47 to 01:50: no machine text; video ends.] ---