Christopher Martin Fleig, on trial in Red Deer for the murder of a rival drug dealer, considered becoming a confidential informant for the Red Deer RCMP, court heard on Monday.
Fleig, 28, is being tried before Justice Kirk Sisson in Red Deer Court of Queen’s bench for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the gang-style shooting death of Brandon Neil Prevey outside of a house on Ibbotson Close at about 3 a.m. on April 5, 2009.
Lawyers for the Crown and defence have been conducting a voir dire — a trial within the trial — to determine the admissibility of certain evidence, including statements related to the charges against Fleig.
The trial, scheduled for five weeks, is now in its third week.
Testifying in the voir dire on Monday, RCMP Cpl. Jeremy Richard Dickman, head of the three-member organized crime unit in Red Deer, said he spoke with Fleig a number of times before the accused was identified as a suspect in Prevey’s murder.
Their conversations included discussion about using Fleig as a confidential informant but that never happened, said Dickman.
Fleig came into the detachment on his own on Oct. 6, 2009, about six months after Prevey’s death, to give a statement about the murder. Dickman said he advised him of his rights and that anything he said could be used as evidence.
Dickman testified that his next involvement with Fleig was on March 29, 2010, at the request of a fellow officer who asked that he join a meeting Fleig requested that morning.
That police officer, along with Dickman and another officer from the organized crime unit, picked Fleig up at Bower Place Shopping Centre and drove him to his house in Deer Park, which Fleig told them was broken into the previous night, said Dickman.
All four men entered from the garage to find the house in disarray with dog feces scattered around and all the electronics missing.
Dickman said he stood watch while Fleig spoke with the officer he contacted to arrange the meeting. Fleig was handcuffed and arrested on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
Dickman testified that Fleig’s behaviour that day was unusual, based on his previous encounters with the accused.
“It was a fairly marked departure from his normal behaviour,” he said.
Under cross-examination by Fleig’s lawyer, Allan Fay, Dickman said Fleig was talking rapidly and with little inflection, jumping from subject to subject and seemed at times to make no sense, including references to working for the government.
However, “It wasn’t a huge red flag,” he said.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com