Uncover - S23 E8: The Trial | "The Pit"

Episode Date: December 25, 2023

With the trial about to begin, Greg’s lawyer explains why he’s representing Greg even though he doesn’t trust or believe him. We explore which factors could decide the verdict. With Sheree still missing, her sisters ponder what they want from the trial.

In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news, so I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with Season 3 of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy.

On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Before you start listening, an important note about the trial that was supposed to start on March 29, 2021. A few hours after we released this episode, the trial for Greg Furtuck was adjourned until September. It was a last minute decision made by the judge on a Friday, three days before the trial was supposed to start. Justice Richard Daniluk said in a written explanation that the trial would be postponed due to the risk of COVID-19 from an outbreak in the nearby city of Regina. He said there were key witnesses who would need to testify in person, not remotely, to

ensure a fair trial, but some of those witnesses were from Regina, and it would be unsafe for them to be traveling in and out of Saskatoon. The decision to adjourn was at the request of Greg Furtuck's lawyer, Morris Bodnar, who you'll hear from in this episode. So the trial will still take place, but not until later in the year. We'll bring you more on this in the near future. In the meantime, here's episode 8 of The Pit. So much has happened in the past six years since Sherry Furtuck went missing.

So much has happened in the past six years since Sherry Furtuck went missing. A huge police investigation, a murder charge laid against Sherry's estranged husband, Greg. Sherry's mum has died. It feels like the time has passed quickly. But time is about to slow down. On March 29th, 2021, Greg Furtuck will go to trial to argue that he did not kill his ex-wife. And when he does, every last detail of Sherry's disappearance and the investigation into Greg will be itemized, analyzed and interpreted and debated. His lawyer, Morris Bodnar, expects the case will take aim at Greg's character. Greg, the evidence will show, is not necessarily truthful when he talks to people,

and his kids in particular, but in particular when he drinks. When he drinks, he's not a nice person. And just because he's a person that's not a nice person, that may be obnoxious, may be violent at times, etc., doesn't mean he killed anyone. There will be more than one version of events, and we may never know the whole story. But we're about to find out a whole lot about holes in the story

and parts of the police investigation that we couldn't tell you about before. I'm Alicia Bridges, and this is Episode 8 of The Pit. Because it was all BS. I never, I didn't kill her, and there was nobody out there. It's a horrible, horrible scam that's set up by the police. I am confident that, that all their evidence will hold up in court. To give her a proper resting place and a proper burial, I guess, would be closure for me.

When I say a lot has happened, that's probably an understatement. COVID-19 has changed all of our lives so drastically. And for me, it took me home to Australia. I had to come home for family reasons. So this time around, I'm following the story from another country. I never thought I'd have to physically leave this story. I first spoke to Sherry's mum, Julianne, more than three years ago, and I could never have imagined all that would happen between then and now. Greg Furtuck is charged with first-degree murder and causing an indignity to a body.

Furtuck admitted to undercover police that he had killed his wife. It says he only confessed to undercover police because he was afraid the cops were going to kill him. I made it up and we went out supposedly looking for the body. Well, there was no body. And her body has never been found. The police undercover will pose as perhaps some big criminal trying to extract a confession.

A preliminary hearing for the case started last Monday and it determined the Crown had enough evidence for a trial. We're looking at a lengthy proceeding. We're obviously hoping to get him to trial as soon as we can. The trial is set to run from the end of March and all through April. It feels weird to be so far away, especially with the trial coming up. But luckily, I have a colleague in Saskatoon who has taken an interest in this case, and she's also covered a lot of court cases.

Are we recording? Yeah, I just flipped it on. There we go. Okay. This is Kendall Latimer. She's done a lot of reporting on domestic violence in Saskatchewan. She's also followed many murder cases. And she'll be helping us cover the trial.

So we've been staying in contact through video calls. So Kendall, there are so many things we've been waiting to find out. What are you expecting to come out of the trial? How they say Sherry died. And the Crown's theory on what Greg allegedly did with Sherry's body. We know that he confessed to undercover cops and took them on a ride to look for her but that turned up nothing and so since his arrest Greg has said he confessed because he was afraid of the undercover cops. So we'll hear all of the details about how police first focused in on him as a suspect and

then what lengths did they go to build that relationship to build up that pretend world with him all in order to elicit a confession from him they did get one but we're going to learn does the crown have any other evidence to support that what will greg's defense be and how much weight if any is the judge going to give to that confession i'm really curious what angle the defense is going to take. Me too. So I called Greg's lawyer. Oh, Morris Bodnar?

Yeah, and he said that we could do an interview. Where did you meet him? I met him downtown in his office. It's right by a pub and a poutine shop in a lovely old brick building. So he's an art lover. As it turns out, he's also a proud grandfather who has a lot of hobbies. I love gardening. I love woodworking. Morris is an interesting guy.

I built my own cottage. I don't know what he has more of. Boxes of files, pieces of art, books on law. And how long has he been a lawyer? He's actually been practicing law for 48 years. That's a really long career. Yeah. And so now he's 72 years old. He was actually a member of parliament for the liberals in the nineties. He's done a lot. But in this city, he's best known for his work in the courtroom, right? That's right. He's worked on so many high profile cases. For years,

he's argued the cases of Hell's Angels. He's worked on so many high-profile cases. For years, he's argued the cases of Hell's Angels. He's defended men accused of violence against women and girls, and also so many people accused of murder. You know, I've done between 50 and 100 homicide cases, so I have a hard time remembering them. But this is the big one. He's preparing to retire. Greg's case is his last big file. Either win or lose.

In this interview, Morris was more open than we expected. He and Kendall talked for hours. Why do you trust and believe Greg? Why do you think he didn't do it? I don't trust and believe him. I just go by the Crown's disclosure. If Greg told me that it's sunny outside today, I would go to the window and check it myself. Because there are so many examples in the disclosure that he's untruthful. And his kids even say that Dad lies. Now, if that's the case,

then how can I take his word for anything? I go by the evidence that's there. Greg, the evidence will show, is not necessarily truthful when he talks to people and his kids in particular, but in particular when he drinks. When he drinks, he's not a nice person. And just because he's a person that's not a nice person, that may be obnoxious, may be violent at times, etc., doesn't mean he killed anyone. And unfortunately, I think that's the attempt by the Crown,

is to show, well, he's such a bad apple, therefore he must be guilty of getting rid of her. Morris Bodnar has been representing Greg Furtuck since before Sherry went missing. He was there when Greg pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Sherry. That was the time when police found the Uzi at Greg and Sherry's house. I dealt with it for him and we disposed of them. And that wasn't easy because they had charged them with possession of an Uzi. An Uzi is a prohibited weapon.

Minimum sentence at the time was three years in jail. No, because we had them agree to changing the charge, but that meant cleaning up everything and pleading guilty. And he agreed to the guilty plea so long as he didn't go to jail. It doesn't mean that he feels he was guilty. He may have been, you know, it's a bit... It was just keeping him out of jail. And we did.

This time around, did Greg contact you or was it just Matt? After Sherry disappeared, Greg went to Morris with legal questions. Well, I was retiring and he had come in once and we were talking. See, I didn't do his work exclusively because I wouldn't do his matrimonial work. I hated matrimonial work. So I told him, I said, but, I said, you know, your wife is gone. If you ever get into trouble that they decide they're going to charge you on this, because they usually go after the husband, then give me a call.

So I was pretty well retired, and I remember getting a phone call at home from Greg in custody. They had arrested him for the murder. Kendall asked Morris what he thinks will be the biggest factors in the outcome of the trial. And from his perspective, he says there are two major points. The most important factors here are, as the Crown proven, on a balance of probabilities, that the evidence is admissible in light of the Hart decision. Hart is the Supreme Court decision that outlines the rules for Mr Big Stings in Canada.

Morris has defended the targets of Mr Big Stings before, and he doesn't have a high opinion of the tactic. He says he believes Greg's confession was false. I know he talked to the police and he gave, or to the gangsters, the undercover police, and admitted that he had killed her, etc. I don't believe he did. And those Mr. Big scenarios should not even be allowed in Canada. They're not in the U.S. But here in Canada, they allow it and it's a horrible, horrible scam that's set up by the police, where they literally, and you'll see it at this trial, you'll see how they operate. And they use the same formula for other cases. And they're really forcing people to give evidence.

Then there's the matter of Greg's movements throughout the day of Sherry's disappearance. Morris says evidence showing the movements of Greg and Sherry on December 7th, 2015 will be huge. That could mean who saw them and when, cell phone records, things like that. Morris thinks he can win and get Greg acquitted, but he's lost Mr Big cases before. Judges all too often accept the evidence of the police and don't accept the evidence of the accused. And why don't they accept the evidence of the accused? This trial will be presided over by a judge only.

There won't be any jury. And it's likely to be a major test of the Mr Big method. The proceedings could last a month or longer because the police investigation was so extensive. The court will hear ethical questions about the legitimacy of Mr Big evidence, and it's likely that the RCMP investigation will be scrutinised and criticised harshly by the defence. will be scrutinized and criticized harshly by the defense. But for Sherry's family, that police work is the saving grace in a search for justice that might otherwise have gone cold. In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news.

So I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with season three of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. I like that guy.

On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. We've stayed in touch with Sherry's sister since the prelim more than a year ago. When we catch up with Tika again, she still finds it hard to believe what the police have done for Sherry. And kudos to them. These people put their heart and soul into this for one person who was murdered. And just like the top minute for it. It's unbelievable. It's almost overwhelming. It's almost overwhelming. So a huge, you know, a huge thank you to everybody involved, you know, in finding the evidence and everything.

It's been, yeah, it's an experience, that's for sure. Tika hasn't been out to the pit in years, so Kendall made arrangements to meet her there. I was wondering if you would meet me at the pit and do an interview there. Sure, probably can. Okay. Okay, well, why don't we text and figure out the best time? Does that work for you? Sure. Yep. Okay. Everything kind of looks the same. I mean, the highway disappears into. Yeah, you just passed me. It's so vast, it's very easy to imagine how hard it would be to search this area, especially when you didn't really know what you were looking for.

I see piles of gravel, piles of earth. There's no trespassing sign. It's cold at the pit and the icy wind cuts like a knife. Tika bundles up with an extra jacket but she's still shivering. Those mounds of gravel are tall but they offer no shelter from the wind. What is it like being out here in this in this space that you know and that Sherry knew so intimately and possibly where she last was? Well this was her livelihood. Gravel holing you know the last two years of her life is is what she did right. This would have kept her busy for years and years and years. It's kind of comforting to know that, you know, this is still going on and existing.

Brings back a lot of my memories when my dad had the gravel business too. So like I said to you earlier, I said, this is a goldmine. It's good. It's okay. I don't mind being here at all walk me through what justice would feel like um I think we all want the truth I think we all deserve the truth if the truth comes out as it is um and they have all the evidence to back it up um that hopefully we get a guilty verdict and And, you know, Greg's spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Like I said, the trial, this will be a step for some closure. So once that's over and done with, you know, we can move on from that chapter. We're going into year number six that she has been gone. So that's kind of hard to believe already. Time stands still for no one. There's no final closure. Yes, I know that Sherry's gone. but to give her a proper resting place and a proper burial,

I guess would be closure for me. Otherwise, right, it's always going to be looming there until I die. You know, every time they find remains, could it be her, could it not be her? So, yeah, for me, until they do actually find her remains, I don't think there will ever be foreclosure. Tika plans to attend the trial as much as possible, but it's unlikely she can be there every day because it could go on for more than a month. When she does go to the trial,

she'll be feeling the absence of her mum. Julianne Sorotsky died in 2018 before Greg Furtack was arrested. She never got the answers she was looking for about what happened to Sherry. Michelle Kish is another one of Sherry's sisters She's been thinking about her mum too Sometimes I think

You know I wish that she could be here to Go through this or to maybe find some closure But at the same time I think it would have been very hard on her maybe find some closure. But at the same time, I think it would have been very hard on her. Michelle feels the outcome of the trial may still not bring closure. Not unless the police find Sherry's remains. She's had no news on what's going on

with the police search. Have they just sort of stopped because they just don't know where to look anymore? Or are they getting closer? You know, maybe there's just a couple pieces of the puzzle missing and it's, you know, because in that year when they were doing the Mr. Big operation, which we didn't obviously know about, we didn't hear too much in that year. I guess I won't be surprised at anything at this

point because you just don't know. The RCMP wouldn't do an interview with us so close to the trial. But they say the search for Sherry continues. The last search was carried out in the fall of 2020. The police service says it can only search after the winter thaw. It says there may be additional searches this spring. Greg Furtuck is 67 years old. At this point, he's been in jail waiting to go to trial for more than a year and a half. That's since before the pandemic started. COVID-19 has swept through that jail. More than 200 inmates had tested positive by mid-March. That's in a jail with between 450 and 500 inmates at any one time.

If Greg is found guilty of first-degree murder, he'll get an automatic life sentence. I can't imagine him running free again. Imagine him running free again. And not only that, but if he is still the same person he was and continues with his drinking and, you know, anger and whatever, I'm a little bit fearful for what he might do to any one of us. Under Canadian law, Greg is presumed not guilty unless he is convicted through the court process. He's going to trial because he has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

I get a phone call almost every day from Greg. He's got no one because they cut him off at the jail now. They won't let him phone his mother, his brother, anyone. They cut him off, everyone except his lawyer. Morris Bodner says Greg can't wait to go to trial. We will be releasing new episodes as the trial continues. The podcast won't cover it daily. The CBC website is the best place for day-to-day updates. Instead, we will be bringing you more than what's in the headlines. Please subscribe to the podcast to get alerts when new episodes are released.

The Pit is a CBC investigative podcast. This episode was written and produced by me, Alicia Bridges. On the ground reporting and audio mixing was by Kendall Latimer. Our senior producer is Corrine Larson. Editorial guidance came from Paul Dornstutter and David Hutton. If you've been enjoying the podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or just tell your friends. You can also contact us directly by emailing thepit at cbc.ca. You can also contact us directly by emailing thepit at cbc.ca.