It was a bit of a shock when Alberta prosecutors charged two more people with involvement in the murders of the four Mounties gunned down during a botched drug seizure operation in Mayerthorpe in 2005. While an automatic first degree murder indictment is required when a cop killing is involved it was hard to figure out how the accused could face such serious charges when they weren’t at the scene of the crime.
Today in a plea deal, the prosecutors agreed to drop the charge to manslaughter in exchange for guilty pleas. Both defendants supplied James Roszko with the rifle and drove him to the farm. When they realized what might be coming, one wanted to call the RCMP to warn them but the other talked him out of it because of fear Roszko would retaliate.
I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty lousy excuse. If there’s danger coming, you call it out. This isn’t yelling fire in a crowded theatre where none exists. There was a firestorm coming and they had a chance to stop the rampage – or at least make sure the Mounties were better prepared.
The defence is asking for five years each, while the prosecution is asking for ten to fifteen. Under these circumstances, I’d set the sentence at twelve, with a strong recommendation that any applications for parole be denied. There’s simply no excuse for such cowardly behaviour, and while they may not have actually pulled the trigger they aided and abetted four murders which carries a great deal of culpability in my opinion.
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