When Colton Boushie, an indigenous Cree man, was shot and killed on the farm of Gerald Stanley in Saskatchewan, Canada in 2016, the case quickly captured the nation’s attention. It had all the makings of a media circus due to the racial element; Stanley was white, and the incident was far from being the only one of its type. It’s not in dispute that Boushie and his friends had been trespassing on Stanley’s property, had attempted to steal on an ATV, and had hit one of Stanley’s cars with their vehicle. The point of contention lay in what happened next: Stanley’s defense asserted that, while attempting to remove the keys from Boushie’s vehicle with the young man in the front seat, his gun accidentally discharged. The prosecution claimed that Stanley shot Boushie in cold blood. 

The situation was complicated by the fact that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police failed to properly log evidence at the scene of the crime. The door to Boushie’s vehicle, the interior covered in blood, was left open in the rain, compromising blood spatter and gunshot residue evidence; a blood spatter specialist, rather than being brought to the scene, was asked to assess it based on photos, which were improperly lit and of little value. Stanley was ultimately acquitted, and it’s tough to argue that the treatment of the crime scene didn’t play a huge part in his acquittal. “It’s sloppy work,” homicide investigator Michael Davis told the CBC. “Obviously, the RCMP needs a lot more training.”

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