deadmonton 2005 - nina courtepatte - briscoe-laboucan trial - february 7th, 2007

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Nina Louise Courtepatte, 13, died from blunt force trauma on April 3rd, 2005.


Charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault were Michael Erin Briscoe, now 36, Joseph Wesley Laboucan, now 21, and three teens not identified by provision of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.


One male teen, aged 19 and nicknamed "Pyro", pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in youth court in Stony Plain on December 8th, 2006. He was to be sentenced as an adult in April 2007.


Briscoe's girlfriend, now 19 and named "Cindy" in this narrative, went to trial March 12th, 2007. Pyro's girlfriend, now 17 and nicknamed "Buffy", had a trial date set for May 1st, 2007.


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As the trial resumed, the Crown solicited statements from Pyro that his life had been threatened by one of the men he was now testify against.


The incident occurred on an unspecified day between January 29th and February 2nd, 2007 while Pyro was sitting in a courthouse holding cell.


Crown prosecutor John Watson asked Pyro to describe the verbal threat.


“If I said anything, myself and my brother would be harmed,” the teen replied.


“Who made that threat?” Watson asked.


“Joseph Laboucan,” replied Pyro.


Although he couldn't see Laboucan make the threat, Pyro recognised his voice coming from an adjacent holding cell.


Pyro later denied a defence allegation that he threatened Laboucan by saying he'd better watch his back while in prison.


The teen also said he had been involved in three fights while in custody since his arrest.


During one such altercation he suffered a minor concussion when he was hit with a chair.


That incident took place in September 2006 while he was being held at the Edmonton Young Offender Centre.



The clean-cut hoping-to-make-amends image that Pyro brought to the stand the previous day was all but shattered under cross-examination.


By the time Michael Briscoe's lawyer Charles Davison got through with him, the court was left with the impression that he was a pathological liar unable to tell the same story twice.


Pyro had no choice but to admit on the stand that he lied to the police and lied to the courts – protecting his self-interest to the point of implicating innocent people.


The teen said he lied to police when he was first questioned on April 9th, 2005 in West Edmonton Mall.


At the time, Pyro said he was just another unemployed mall rat, stealing clothing and food to survive while hooked on crystal meth and ecstasy.


He told police he wasn't a murderer, and had been in the Callingwood neighbourhood the night Nina died.


However, he said he had overheard three other teens, including Laboucan, in the West Edmonton Mall parking lot talking about raping and killing people at a party with a hammer.


Pyro now testified two of those people had absolutely nothing to do with the crime.


“You weren't concerned you might involve [the two innocent individuals] in this because of your lies?” defence lawyer Davison asked.


“It did not bother me. I was high at the time on crystal meth," Pyro replied.


After he was charged with murder on April 12th, Pyro told police he and his girlfriend Buffy were thrown into a car against their will and driven to a dark spot in the country.


One man then carried him and Buffy out to a field, while another man carried Nina and her friend Jane Doe. Pyro said they were then forced to watch Nina's murder.


Pyro told police he and Buffy were taken back and dumped in a field near West Edmonton Mall.


Pyro admitted in court to Davison those stories were all lies.


During the preliminary hearing, Pyro testified that Briscoe stayed in the car when Nina was murdered.


In direct testimony, Pyro said Briscoe had walked out to the crime scene with everyone else.


Under Davison's cross-examination he admitted he now wasn't sure about that.


Pyro offered that his memory during the preliminary hearing was poor but had since improved.


The teen testified that Briscoe had a flashlight with him that night. However, he wasn't sure about that at previous hearings relating to this case.


Pyro told the defence lawyer that he always knew that Briscoe brought a flashlight onto the golf course, but decided not to tell the truth under oath in court.


"I preferred not to say," Pyro said cryptically.


During testimony in a previous hearing, Pyro said he had known Nina for a year.


He claimed to have had sex with her in a downtown back alley and again just a few days before her death.


Under cross-examination, Pyro admitted he never knew Nina until the day he killed her and had never previously had sex with her.


Also in previous testimony, he denied raping the girl the night she died.


In the Agreed Statement of Facts entered into court in December 2006, Pyro stated he had told Nina if she had sex with some of the guys, they would let her live.


On the stand the previous day, Pyro did not admit to this.


Davison asked him if he had actually threatened Nina with this offer.


"I believe that that did not happen," came his reply.


Davison asked Pyro if he lied on the stand when he said Briscoe hit Nina with a sledgehammer.


Pyro stuck to his testimony and said that Michael Briscoe and Joseph Laboucan joined with him in using a sledgehammer to kill Nina.


In that same Agreed Statement of Facts, Pyro also said he had hit Nina in the groin area with a sledgehammer.


During his previous day's testimony he did not mention this fact.


"I'm going to suggest to you that Nina was struck in the crotch with a sledgehammer and that you were wielding it," charged Davison.


"Now that you have refreshed my memory I believe I may have done that," Pyro said.


"Why did you hit her?" Davison asked.


"I don't know," Pyro answered, although in the Statement of Facts he suggested he did this to destroy evidence of his sexual involvement.


To provide himself with an alibi, Pyro asked two people, a teen male named "Flash" and Briscoe's girlfriend Cindy, to lie to police.


He admitted in court he wasn't concerned about the legal consequence this posed for Cindy, who herself faced first-degree murder charges relating to Nina's death.


Davison then challenged Pyro on the issue of truthfulness.


"Ever sat down and count all the lies you've told in the course of this whole thing?"


"No."


"There's a lot of them?"


"Yes."


"Do you get nervous when you lie?" Davison asked.


"No," Pyro said, boasting he doesn't sweat, stammer or fidget when he lies, and can look people in the eye while he does.


Pyro had previously said he wanted to get the four co-accused into as much trouble as possible because they had talked to police.


"They broke that pact between mall rats. The way I see it, I am no longer a mall rat. They are no longer my friends."


A recent convert to Christianity, Pyro explained his previous lies: "I was trying to protect myself, I was still pleading not guilty."


"Now that I've pleaded guilty, all that's changed and things are different. Since then, I decided I would become a Christian."


Under cross-examination, Pryo agreed he had earlier lied in court because he found out his then-girlfriend Buffy was sleeping with Laboucan.


He said he was mad enough at both of them to lie about their involvement in Nina's murder. He said knew what lies to tell by reading the statements of others from the court file.


The teen testified he is now telling the truth that Laboucan also raped the victim before the two of them and Briscoe beat her to death.


"He's not my friend, but I won't lie about him," Pyro said of Laboucan.


"You want him to go down with you," Laboucan's lawyer, Laurie Wood, suggested.


"He has done some things and so have I," the teen said.


The defence then questioned the teen about who told the "scary story" to Nina and her friend Jane Doe.


At Laboucan and Briscoe's preliminary hearing, Pyro testified that moments before the attack it was he who began telling the story about killing which Laboucan then finished.


On the stand earlier, Nina's friend Jane Doe, Pryo's girlfriend Buffy and Briscoe's girlfriend Cindy all recalled is was Laboucan who told the story about vampires killing people and bringing them back from the dead.


Pyro now testified there was no story about ritual killing.


"He [Laboucan] wasn't really saying anything [to Nina or her friend]."


He then added emphatically: "There was no story."


Pyro also admitted that he hoped testifying against the other four would win him favour at his own sentencing hearing in April 2007.


"I would like that, of course," Pyro said.



The trial continued February 8th, 2007



A list of persons named in this case can be found at the bottom of the main Briscoe-Laboucan trial page.