Joshua Frank’s gruesome description of how he killed the Klaus family given to an undercover RCMP officer is the truth, argued a Crown prosecutor.
Information such as the kind of gun used, that two shots were fired at the Klaus’ dog, the kind of gas used to burn their farmhouse down and numerous other details point to Frank as the killer, suggested Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday.
Frank steadfastly denied that his story of the shootings captured on video in an RCMP undercover Mr. Big operation in July 2014 was the reality.
He had testified that he had been coached by Jason Klaus to tell the story to the officer posing as Mr. Big because the supposed criminal boss had told them he could help them avoid being blamed for the triple murder on the Klaus farm on Dec. 8, 2013.
Klaus and Frank are on trial on three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Klaus’ parents, Gordon and Sandra, and his sister Monica. Police believe the Klauses were shot and the home burned down to destroy the evidence.
“I never killed Gordon. I never killed Sandi. I never killed Monica. I never killed their dog. I didn’t burn their house down,” said Frank.
“I was telling a story to (Mr. Big) trying to be a tough guy for Jason,” Frank said.
Sopko said Frank was motivated to tell the truth to Mr. Big because he was Klaus’ get-of-jail-free card.
All of the other versions of the events of the night of the murders were lies crafted to account for each new piece of evidence presented by police, said Sopko.
Frank’s testified earlier in the trial that he had unwittingly been taken to the farm by Klaus and had no idea he intended to kill his family and torch the house. Frank said he was threatened with death by Klaus, who used him to help dump a pickup taken from the farm.
Sopko called his testimony ‘version 7’ of his account of the night of the murders. Despite numerous meetings with police and hours of questioning, Frank had never told that version of events before the trial, he noted.
“This version is how it happened,” insisted Frank.
Frank testified he was sitting in a pickup Klaus wanted him to take, when he saw him raise his arm, followed by a muzzle flash and a shot. He then later saw him take a jerry can into the house.
Why not drive away? Sopko asked. When Klaus ordered him to follow him to the Battle River, where he was going to dump the pickup, why would he pull up next to a man he feared had done something bad at the farm instead of just driving on by.
Frank did not take any of the “reasonable outs” available to him, he said.
“No, I didn’t. I wasn’t thinking close to rationally,” said Frank.
Sopko put it to Frank, who was dead broke and a drug addict, did the shootings for cash. Klaus had been stealing from his family and wanted them dead.
Frank denied having anything to do with planning or carrying out the murders.
It was all Klaus’ doing and Frank did not go to police because he feared Klaus would kill him.
In his cross-examination, Klaus’ lawyer, Allan Fay, questioned why Frank did not tell police he was threatened by Klaus and had nothing to do with the crimes rather than lying.
“I don’t really know why I told all these different lies to police,” Frank said at one point.
All the lying was to gain personal benefit. “Isn’t that true?” asked Fay.
“No, it is not true,” said Frank.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
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