A Saskatoon Queen’s Bench judge ruled today that Douglas Hales is guilty of the second degree murder of Daleen Bosse.
Justice Gerald Allbright said the murder was not planned and deliberate and Hales must be given the benefit of doubt.
Bosse’s family is stunned and are tearful in the courtroom.
CBC’s Dan Zakreski is tweeting live from the courtroom. View his tweets below.
Over the past decade, the case has seen many twists and turns.
It began on the May long weekend in 2004 when Bosse went missing after a night out. She had been last seen at a Saskatoon nightclub where Hales worked as a bouncer.
It would be four years before RCMP undercover officers posing as criminals got Hales to not only confess to killing Bosse but also lead them to her burned remains in a secluded party spot north of the city.
He was charged with first-degree murder.
Hales fired a half dozen lawyers before settling on Bob Hrycan of Regina. At his trial, Hales claimed that Bosse had died of alcohol poisoning that night and that he clumsily disposed of her body because he panicked.
He said that he inflated his role in her death when confessing to undercover officers because he believed they were powerful criminals and he wanted to impress them.
In a final twist, the Supreme Court came out with a decision this summer on so-called Mr. Big Stings, which is the technique RCMP used to get enough evidence to charge Hales.
The high court called into question the technique. This ruling prompted Hrycan to first seek a mistrial, and then re-open the trial to call new evidence.
He was unsuccessful on both counts.
