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Long-term offender Leo Teskey faced another hurdle in late 2008 – this time in the court of public opinion after an exclusive photograph came to light. And according to one lawyer, it may hurt Teskey's chance at a dangerous offender hearing set for February 4th, 2009.

Teskey's criminal record | the attack on Dougald Miller | a reporter's notes

On November 21st, 2008 the Edmonton Sun printed a photograph showing convicted criminal Leo Teskey, in red, partying with an unknown man, allegedly in late November or early December 2000.

Exclusive to the Last Link on the Left - supplied by Byron Christopher

Acquired by crime reporter Byron Christopher, the photograph was alleged to have been taken with a 35mm camera stolen from Dougald Miller (click on image to enlarge).

Miller was assaulted on November 21st, 2000 in an apartment building he owned at 9524 114 Avenue. He was later discovered lying in a pool of blood by a mailman.

The 61-year-old man's skull and ribs had been fractured, one of his ears had been ripped off, and the beating left his brain bruised and bleeding. His suite had been broken into and among the items stolen was a camera.

What Miller's attacker(s) missed was over $600 in cash – rent money Dougald had collected and hadn't yet deposited in the bank. The money and Dougald's credit cards were hidden in his leather jacket hanging on a chair in his upstairs office.

Teskey's victims - June 2007
Dougald Miller, his wife Lesley, and retired Edmonton police officer Mike Lakusta

Miller remained in a coma for 11 months after the attack and continues to live in a facility where he receives round-the-clock nursing care. He is fed through a tube and can only communicate by blinking – see the attack on Dougald Miller for more.

Christopher met with Dougald Miller in his hospital bed at Capital Care Norwood and showed him the photograph. He asked Miller, "Is the man in red your attacker?"

Miller responded by blinking YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! until he was exhausted, Christopher told the Last Link on the Left.

Miller also indicated to Christopher that he was attacked by two people, one of them being Leo Teskey. When asked if he was hit from behind, Miller blinked 'Yes.' When asked if he knew the second attacker, Miller indicated 'No.'

A few years after the assault on Miller, Christopher got a tip on the identity of the second alleged attacker. He confronted the man on the deck of a small house he was boarding at in the downtown area. The man denied any involvement in the Miller attack and went on to say he had not one alibi – but two. Christopher told the Last Link: "Well, that's better than one."

According to Lesley Miller, Dougald's wife, the published photograph was one of many taken from the roll found in the camera and shown to her. She confirmed to Christopher it was one of the photos police had shown her shortly after Teskey's arrest.

At the time, the woman didn't recognise any of the people in the pictures. Police were hoping to find a picture of her husband on the same roll. However, according to Lesley, Dougald always kept fresh film in the camera.

Also according to Christopher, earlier in 2008 Teskey had confessed to a psychiatrist that he was in the Norwood apartment stairwell when Miller was beaten into a vegetative state. Previously, Teskey had always denied taking part in or witnessing the attack.

With the publication of the 'party' photograph, one lawyer told Christopher that it could greatly hurt Teskey's chances at the dangerous offender hearing.

For more about the story behind the photograph – see a reporter's notes.

To mark the eighth anniversary of the assault, and with a copy of the photograph in hand, CBC Edmonton's Scott Fralick dropped by Dougald Miller's nursing home and staged a re-enactment of Christopher's earlier interview with the bedridden man.

"Dougald, if you know that man in the red can you blink twice for us?" Fralick prompted.

Dougald blinked twice for the CBC.

Fralick asked Dougald's wife for her reaction to the photo of the two men.

"At this time, when he's doing this, Dougald was in ICU going through so many different things. Collapsed lungs, he was getting brain surgery, he had pancreatitus, he had phlebitis, he had blood clots ... everything," Lesley Miller said.

"And he's having a good time with Dougald's camera."

"What would you like to say to him right now?" Fralick asked, indicating the second man in the photograph.

"I would say, 'Did you know what he had done and if you did why did you not come forward?' "

Lesley Miller said much the same to the Edmonton Sun.

“That just shows (Teskey has) no remorse — none whatsoever. I wish I'd never seen that. I wish that man had never come into our lives.”

Teskey's criminal record

The upcoming dangerous offender process will be familiar to Teskey, who has a criminal record dating back to 1988 when he shot Edmonton police Const. Mike Lakusta in the back of the head while being transported to the Londonderry station.

Teskey, then 17, had been arrested for mischief after firing a gun at power poles in an alley near Wellington Hardware at 132 Avenue and 132 Street. Unknown to Lakusta, Teskey had taken four hits of LSD an hour before his arrest.

Teskey said at his trial he got the gun as collateral from a friend who bought his stereo. He said he was on his way to sell it at an arcade when he decided to test it.

As Lakusta approached the Londonderry station, Teskey pulled down his jeans to retrieve a .32-calibre short loaded revolver he had hidden between his buttocks. Teskey hadn't been handcuffed.

Teskey cocked the revolver and the gun hit a side of the open protective shield separating the police car's passenger compartment. The gun went off.

Teskey said he had no idea Lakusta had been shot until he heard him radio the fact to headquarters.

A bullet was removed from the back of Lakusta's neck in a one-hour operation. He fully recovered and returned to active duty two months after the shooting.

In a victim impact statement, Lakusta wrote he suffered from headaches, hearing loss, loss of balance and some control of his right eye. (The injuries prompted fellow police force members to affectionately nickname him 'Old Bullethead').

Teskey was acquitted on a charge of attempted murder with a judge citing his LSD-caused impairment as a mitigating factor. He was found guilty of stealing Lakusta's police car, unlawful use of a handgun while committing an indictable offence and unlawful escape and was sentenced to three years and 10 months in jail. The sentence was reduced to 22 months because of time Teskey spent in pre-trial custody.

In January 1991 Teskey was sentenced to four months after pleading guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, assaulting a police officer while attempting to escape, two counts of possession of a narcotic, failure to appear in court and a breach of recognizance.

He was sentenced to three months on the assault charge to run concurrently with the weapons charge, a $200 fine or 20 days on one narcotics charge and one day in jail on the other, $20 or five days for failure to appear and one-day in jail for breaching recognizance.

Court heard that Teskey was in possession of hashish when he was stopped by police in a hotel parking lot on September 27th, 1990.

While being searched, police found a knife with a 10-cm blade hidden in his trousers. He was released the next day on $400 cash bail.

Two days later Teskey was stopped in another hotel parking lot and was again found in possession of hashish.

While attempting to escape he assaulted a police officer. While out on bail again, he failed to make a December 19th court appearance and was arrested January 11th, 1991.

In March 1996 Teskey, then 26, was sentenced to six months in jail for injuring the penis of his girlfriend's two-year-old son. The judge at his trial took into account his 28-month stay at the Edmonton Remand Centre.

The judge also turned down a Crown request to have Teskey declared a dangerous offender which would have kept him in prison indefinitely, ruling there wasn't enough evidence that he was likely to seriously hurt people in the future even though two of three psychiatrists who testified said he was a psychopath.

The attack on Dougald Miller

In February 2002 Teskey, then 33, was convicted of aggravated assault, break and enter and possession of stolen property.

Dougald Miller had been left paralysed after a brutal assault on November 21st, 2000 in an apartment building he owned at 9524 114th Avenue.

Miller's skull and ribs were fractured, one of his ears was ripped off, and the beating left his brain bruised and bleeding. His suite had been broken into and a station wagon, loaded with old clothes intended for the Salvation Army, stolen.

Miller remained in a coma for 11 months after the attack and now lives in a facility where he receives round-the-clock nursing care. He can only communicate by blinking.

The Crown sought the maximum 14-year sentence for the aggravated assault on Miller and an extra eight years on the break-and-enter and theft conviction. Teskey was declared a dangerous offender in March 2005 and was given an indefinite jail sentence. Dougald Miller was not expected to ever recover from his injuries.

A dangerous offender is sentenced to prison for an indefinite period of time. Every two years, the National Parole Board reviews the case. He is released only when the board determines he no longer poses a risk to society.

In June 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada overturned Teskey's convictions on the basis of Judge Brad Kerby's tardiness (eleven months) in providing written reasons for his decision. Teskey's dangerous offender status was also overturned and a new trial was ordered.

Teskey's second trial in connection with the assault on Miller began in December 2007. On February 8th, 2008 Teskey was again found guilty of the original charges. A second dangerous offender hearing was set for February 4th, 2009.

Exclusive to the Last Link - supplied by Byron Christopher

Whether the publication of the 'party' photograph taken with Dougald Miller's camera of Leo Teskey celebrating has any effect on his second dangerous offender hearing remains to be seen.

A reporter's notes

During the ten years Byron Christopher covered the crime beat for 630 CHED, the reporter broke numerous stories. The Last Link on the Left contacted Christopher to learn a bit more about the story behind the photograph – and his experiences covering the Dougald Miller and Leo Teskey stories – read more »

Below are Christopher's recollections – in his own words.

A few years ago I visited beating victim Dougald Miller at the Norwood Extended Care Center. I saw the man could communicate by blinking his eyes – one blink for NO, two blinks for YES. That's where I got the idea to show him a photograph of Leo Teskey.

At the time, Teskey was being held at the Edmonton Remand Center, waiting for his dangerous offender hearing to begin after being found guilty of aggravated-assault. I told Teskey of my plan to show Miller a recent photo of him and I asked him if he had something better than the 1988 "file photo." He said he did, and I got it.

Soon after I got the photo, I returned to Norwood. With Lesley Miller witnessing the exchange, I asked her bedridden husband if the man in red was his attacker, or one of his attackers. Dougald Miller repeatedly indicated 'YES!' The man was clearly excited to be able to identify Leo Teskey.

I also asked Dougald Miller if he'd been attacked by one man only. He blinked 'NO.' Two men only? He blinked 'YES.' Three men only? 'NO.' I asked Miller if he knew who the second man in the photo was, and he indicated 'NO.'

Knowing Dougald Miller's reputation for not being afraid to take on punks – and Teskey's size – I asked Miller if he was hit from behind. He blinked 'YES.' Finallly, I asked Miller if he thought he knew his second attacker and he said 'NO.'

Each question was asked three times. Every time Miller's response was the same.

When Dougald Miller got tired, I stopped asking him questions.

Mrs. Miller wanted to know where I got the Leo Teskey party photograph, and I told her. She then said it was the same photo police had shown her, soon after they picked up Teskey. She went on to explain her husband's 35mm camera had been stolen from his office right after the attack and that police found the camera in Teskey's apartment.

She said it was EPS that developed the roll of film inside the camera. Leo Teskey did tell me who was in the picture with him, and be damned if I can remember who that guy is.

I don't know Leo Teskey well. We've spoken perhaps a dozen times – and only over the phone at that – so I can't begin to guess why he would hand over a photograph that could incriminate him and blow his chances of beating a dangerous offender rap all to hell.

I can only guess – and I stress guess – that he gambled Dougald Miller (a) wouldn't recognize or remember him and (b) if he did, he couldn't communicate that information. But Dougald Miller indicated Teskey was his attacker, and I immediately did a story on it.

The story of Dougald Miller's identifying Leo Teskey was broadcast on 630 CHED, where I worked at the time. I don't know if any other media outlet at the time picked up on this. I know Teskey did, because he phoned. He said he heard the story, but I believe that's all he said.

I didn't release the Teskey "party" photograph until recently.

I've been around to see Dougald Miller the odd time, in the hopes of finding out more about the attack. I tried showing him letters of the alphabet to spell out words, but this exhausted him.

One time I turned off the television so we wouldn't have any interference and he yelled loudly. I guess he was a big fan of golf and a golf tournament was playing on TV.

Byron Christopher continues to work free lance in Edmonton.

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deadmonton 2000 - leo teskey