Narrative

Yesterday I expressed concern over the jury selection in the second-degree murder trial of the man who shot to death Colten Boushie. (How is a jury trial fair if the jury is not representative of the community in which the murderer and the murder victim reside?) Today my concern is over local media reportage, which has produced a narrative that pairs the introduction of the murderer's gun -- a Russian-made handgun that has Boushie's DNA on it -- with a 22. caliber rifle carried in the SUV that Boushie and three others were travelling in.

I worry that the implication here is of a gun fight, that the murderer's lawyers will argue that Boushie showed up with a gun and the murderer was only trying to defend himself -- when in fact long guns are common in vehicles whose owners live and hunt in rural areas (and high-calibre semi-automatic handguns packed by fence-building farmers are not).

Boushie was shot behind the left ear through the driver-side window [now passenger-side?] of the SUV. That Boushie's DNA was on the gun that killed him suggests that the murderer was close enough to Boushie for that to happen. Not a gun fight at that range -- more like an execution. As for the "splatter pattern," we are told that the SUV was left in the rain all night with the doors open (huh?) -- and this, the murderer's lawyers will likely argue, will have compromised the evidence.