Forensic officer testifies about crime scenes at Saskatoon murder trial

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Sgt. Tyler Hadland said possible blood stains and prints were found in a Honda Civic involved in the homicide of James “Ed” Swift in 2022.

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Testifying at a Saskatoon murder trial, a forensic identification officer described the items he documented, photographed and tested from a basement suite and a white Honda Civic during an investigation into a fatal stabbing north of the city.

Saskatoon police Sgt. Tyler Hadland said possible blood stains were found near the Civic’s driver’s side door and handle, fingerprints were located on the passenger door, and partial palm prints were on the rear passenger door. Samples were taken and sent for testing, he told court.

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The lab results weren’t revealed in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench on Friday, which closed the second week of the judge-alone trial.

Colton Lischka, 31, and Ashtin Ritzand, 30, are charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder.

Around 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2022, James “Ed” Swift, 40, and his friend Virginia Belhumeur were found stabbed in a ditch at the intersection of Penner Road and Range Road 3050, in the RM of Corman Park.

Swift died at the scene. Belhumeur survived. She is scheduled to testify on Monday.

Earlier this week, court heard the victims had met Lischka, Ritzand and a man named Anthony Burley after an altercation outside the Hose and Hydrant bar, where Burley bumped Swift with his car in a parking lot around 3 a.m.

Shawn Chaboyer was working at the bar’s adjoining off-sale that night. He testified on Friday that he saw “three dudes outside by a white vehicle” and a man in a white long-sleeved shirt (believed to be Burley) talking to a man and a woman (believed to be Swift and Belhumeur) who later came in to buy alcohol.

He identified the pair on surveillance video shown in court, and said he walked them out a side door of the bar.

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Burley testified on Tuesday that he drove to the front of the bar, where Swift and Belhumeur were outside, and invited them over to his Evergreen neighbourhood basement suite for drinks.

He said they later went for a drive, and Belhumeur bought cocaine from a house. Swift was arguing with Lischka, who was in the front passenger seat while Ritzand drove Burley’s white Honda Civic, court heard.

Burley said they pulled over on a gravel road and he stayed in the car while the other four got out. He said he didn’t know anyone had been stabbed until he was arrested later that day.

Hadland said he photographed Burley and Lischka while they were in custody. He noted scratches on Lischka’s neck and light scratches on Burley’s hand and leg.

Burley was originally charged with second-degree murder. The charge was stayed, but he remains charged with being an accessory to murder.

Hadland said officers seized keys with a lanyard, a cellphone located between a mattress and box spring, brown work boots and clothes from a dryer at Burley’s Marlatte Street home.

During cross-examination, he said no crime tape surrounded the home, but there was scene security, including a log that tracked who accessed the house. He said he believed the log was blank when he arrived 18 hours after Lischka and Burley’s arrest.

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Ritzand turned himself in to police the day after the stabbing.

Burley’s landlord, Trent Koch, testified on Friday that he found a bong, “a lot of protein powders,” a notebook and a cellphone in the suite after Burley and Lischka moved out.

He said a new tenant found the black “older flip phone” in the back corner of a bedroom closet shelf, and he gave it to police without opening it.

The Crown plans to finish calling evidence next week.

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