EDMONTON — Two men who pleaded guilty in the shooting deaths of four Alberta Mounties are to be in court Wednesday to appeal their sentences.
Shawn Hennessey was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison on four counts of manslaughter.
Dennis Cheeseman, who also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to 12 years.
“The court will be hearing the appeal of the sentences that were imposed on these two young men,” Hersh Wolch, Hennessey’s lawyer, said Friday.
“We are arguing that it should be reduced.”
Both men were convicted of indirectly helping James Roszko before he shot the four officers on March 3, 2005, near Mayerthorpe. They gave Roszko a rifle and a ride to his farm where he later gunned down the Mounties.
Edmonton lawyer Peter Royal is representing Cheeseman.
Wolch and Royal said the appeals will be heard together and their clients will be in court.
During the men’s trial, court heard that Roszko was angry with the RCMP, who were watching over a marijuana grow operation and chop shop they had found in a Quonset hut on his farm. Hennessey and Cheeseman drove Roszko, who was heavily armed, to his farm and dropped him off at the edge of the property.
A few hours later, shots rang out and constables Brock Myrol, 29; Anthony Gordon, 28; Leo Johnston, 32; and Peter Schiemann, 25, lay dead. Roszko then killed himself after being wounded in a shootout with another Mountie.
According to a statement of facts, Hennessey, 30, said he helped Roszko because he was part of the marijuana grow operation. Cheeseman, 26, helped because he was Hennessey’s brother-in-law.
Colleen Myrol said she and her family will not attend the appeal and won’t comment until after there is a ruling. She said the pain of her son’s death still lingers after more than five years — but there are good days as well.
Last Sunday, Myrol and her husband were in Mayerthorpe to attend a marathon held in honour of the four Mounties and to visit a memorial that was set up.
“It is always hard to drive up there — the memories just flood in,” she said. “But once we walk through the door it is very peaceful. We talk to people there and it is very powerful for me.”
Alberta Justice spokesman Jay O’Neill said the appeal will focus on the sentences imposed on the two men. At one time, Hennessey and Cheeseman had indicated they would appeal their convictions, but later decided not to proceed.
O’Neill said the Crown will contend that the sentences handed down by Justice Eric Macklin of Court of Queen’s Bench on Jan. 30, 2009, were appropriate.
“They withdrew the appeal of their convictions some time ago,” O“Neill said. ”Our position is that the trial judge was correct in his sentencing.“
Each of the men had their sentence reduced by three years for pleading guilty to manslaughter. They were also given some credit for the time they were in custody.
Some relatives of the dead Mounties say they have been told that Alberta will begin the long-awaited fatality inquiry into the shootings in January. Such reviews cannot find blame, but can offer recommendations on how police and government can improve their procedures.
O’Neill said an inquiry date has not been finalized.