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Judge allows Mr. Big evidence in murder trial

Two men accused of triple-murder admitted their involvement to undercover police
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Confessions two accused murderers gave undercover police in a Mr. Big sting operation can be used as evidence in their trial, a judge ruled on Monday.

Jason Klaus, 41, and Joshua Frank, 32, told undercover police officers posing as members of a criminal organization that they hatched a plan in late October or early November 2013 to kill Klaus’ parents Gordon and Sandra and his sister Monica.

In a July 19, 2014 meeting with Mr. Big at a gas station at CrossIron Mills mall south of Calgary, Frank admitted he went into the Klaus’ Castor-area farmhouse and shot all three family members multiple times on Dec. 8, 2013. The family dog was also shot.

Frank then took aviation fuel that Klaus used for his high-performance snowmobile dumped it out and ignited it burning the house to the ground.

Klaus and Frank are on trial in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on three counts each of first-degree murder.

Klaus admitted to an undercover officer in early June that he had planned the murders and paid Frank to pull the trigger. The confession was secretly recorded by police and was one of numerous audio and video recordings taken during the four-month sting operation beginning in April 2014.

Undercover officers were also told how the pair abandoned a vehicle taken from the Klaus farm near the Battle River. The day after the murders, Frank tossed the nine-mm semi-automatic handgun he used in shallow water in the Big Knife Provincial Park.

Following Justice Eric Macklin’s ruling on Monday, Klaus’ Calgary lawyer, Allan Fay, asked for time to speak with his client. The trial was adjourned for the rest of the day.

Crown prosecutors wrapped their case on Monday and Fay will begin his defence on Tuesday with Klaus expected to take the stand.

Fay unsuccessfully argued earlier in the morning that his client’s admissions were of limited value and should not be used as evidence in his trial.

While one of the undercover police officers involved in the four-month sting considered Klaus intelligent and outgoing, Fay argued the evidence shows he was “more of a kid playing cops and robbers with these guys.”

Fay said Klaus was prepared to lie to his new criminal friends to gain prestige in the organization. In one instance, he lied about still having a valuable trophy deerhead even though the truth was it had been destroyed in the fire in his parents’ home.

Calgary lawyer Tonii Roulston, who represents Frank, raised questions about the reliability of his evidence. Frank insisted the gun used in the shootings had no serial number but the gun recovered had a clear serial number on its side, said Roulston.

Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko, one of three prosecuting this case, said undercover officers did not threaten Klaus or anyone else in the pseudo criminal organization with violence.

They used the “truth verification method” to encourage him to talk about the murders. Klaus was told by his new-found criminal friends that they could help him but needed to know the details of what he had done.

That is different than creating a scenario in which someone is tempted to make up a story about their criminal past to show how bad they are, said Sopko.

Mr. Big operations are carefully scrutinized by the courts in light of a 2014 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that sets the ground rules for admissibility. Assuming no police misconduct in the sting operation, the onus remains on Crown prosecutors to show confessions gathered are more reliable than prejudicial to the accused.



pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com

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