last link on the left › deadmonton

Kenneth Calhoun, 36, was shot to death May 19th, 2006.

Richard James Ellis, 24, was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, possession of a prohibited firearm and arson.

A 17-year-old, who cannot be identified by provision of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, possession of a prohibited firearm and arson, pointing a firearm and two counts of failing to comply with bail conditions.

Richard Ellis sentencing | young offender trial | young offender verdict

Drug deals, debt collecting and dim-wittedness all culminated in the shooting death of Kenneth Calhoun. It was like the gang who couldn't shoot straight – Alberta style.

Sources told the Edmonton Sun that Kenneth Calhoun was a well-known crack dealer who had several drug runners working under him.

Like any other successful business, outstanding debts need to be collected. Calhoun demonstrated a serious approach to the practice – an approach others in his profession took even more seriously as he later found out.

In March 2006 it was alleged that Calhoun and his 35-year-old girlfriend Nicole Gonyou kidnapped a 17-year-old in Spruce Grove over a drug debt. The pair held him overnight at knifepoint.

The next day Calhoun and Gonyou drove the youth to Evansburg where apparently he could get some money. The 17-year-old was able to make a partial payment and he was set free.

While returning to Spruce Grove, the RCMP pulled Calhoun and Gonyou over. They were charged with kidnapping and extortion.

What goes around comes around ... and for Calhoun the stakes were to become much higher.

Calhoun and Gonyou ended up living in trailer 208 in the Mobile City Estates trailer park on Calahoo Road in Spruce Grove.

Next door was trailer 207, a unit known locally as "the crack shack," usually occupied by a man in his 50s and his two teenaged sons.

Neighbours said the trailer was a known drug location and the scene of parties that drew numerous police visits.

A former coke addict named "Dave" told the Edmonton Sun:

"It was just a house to go to, to do drugs and drink. You could go there any time - five in the morning on a Monday - you could show up there any time and there'd be at least a couple people there.

"We felt safe doing drugs there. We knew we'd never get caught there. There was never any cops there. That was one of the first places I spent entire nights going for days and days doing coke."

The 27-year-old former Spruce Grove resident said he frequented the trailer at least 150 times over a period of a couple of years.

On May 16th two men showed up at Calhoun's trailer at 208.

According to police, one carried a sawed-off, 12-gauge shotgun and the other a baseball bat. The men robbed the trailer of some drugs and cash.

A resident told the Sun one of the men held a shotgun to Calhoun’s chest.

On May 18th, just before 3:30 a.m., Calhoun's trailer was set on fire. Police alleged one man spread gasoline on the side of the building and the other lit it on fire. Fire investigators at the time determined the fire was suspicious and turned the case over to the RCMP.

Calhoun then moved in to the notorious trailer 207.

According to residents interviewed by the Edmonton Sun, 207 had no electricity, gas or telephone although the TV always seemed to be on.

Some residents claimed a barbecue was used inside the unit for cooking.

Late in the evening on May 19th, 2006 a young woman went to 207 after being beaten by her boyfriend.

The 16-year-old son of the trailer's owner was trying to find her a ride to Edmonton when Kenneth Calhoun arrived at his new home. He soon went to bed.

Police said at around 11:45 p.m. two men, armed with a bat and shotgun, entered the bedroom where Calhoun was sleeping and fired a single shot.

Just before midnight Stony Plain RCMP received a 911 call reporting gunshots fired.

A resident of the trailer park told the Sun after the sound of the shots she saw a young woman run from the trailer crying out "He's dead! He's dead!"

The RCMP and Spruce Grove Fire Services arrived at trailer 207 and found Calhoun's dead body inside.

Police said Calhoun was shot once in the head with a sawed-off, 12-gauge shotgun and was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy later confirmed Calhoun died from a single bullet wound.

The murder was the first homicide in Spruce Grove in recent memory.

Police announced they were looking for two persons of interest but did not identify the suspects. A shotgun was found nearby the murder scene.

Police later said they tracked two men to Drayton Valley, some 110 km west of Spruce Grove, where they had allegedly fled to hole up after the homicide.

On May 23rd, 2006 a Drayton Valley taxi driver reported two men tried to rob him and steal his cab.

RCMP later arrested the men as they were walking along a rural road.

Richard James Ellis, 24, and a 17-year old were charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, possession of a prohibited firearm and arson.

The 17-year-old was also charged with pointing a firearm and two counts of failing to comply with bail conditions.

The murder charges relate to Kenneth Calhoun's death; the arson charges relate to Calhoun's trailer being set on fire and the robbery charges relate to the taxi incident in Drayton Valley.

Richard Ellis sentencing

On October 5th, 2007 Richard James Ellis was given an eight-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the lesser charger of manslaughter in an Edmonton courtroom.

After receiving double credit for the 17 months he spent in pre-trial custody, Ellis had five years and two months left to serve.

The charges of armed robbery, possession of a prohibited firearm and arson were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.

Ellis admitted in court to being in the Mobile City Estates trailer park on Calahoo Road in May 2006 to collect a drug debt.

At some point, Kenneth Calhoun was fatally shot in the neck with a sawed-off, 12-gauge shotgun. Court heard that Ellis was not the shooter.

With Ellis at the scene was a 17-year-old young offender who was set to go to trial at a later date.

Young offender trial

On February 19th, 2008 the trial of the 17-year-old began before youth court Judge Marie Moreau.

The Crown prosecutor in the case was William Gatward. Acting for the defence was lawyer Bob Joly.

The boy, who was three months shy of his eighteenth birthday at the time of the shooting, cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. However, if convicted and sentenced as an adult the court is free to release his name unless challenged by the defence.

Opening statements from the Crown alleged that Kenneth Calhoun was shot by candlelight on May 19th, 2006 with a sawed-off shotgun carried to his run-down trailer in a guitar case.

Gatward said he would call evidence that documented a troubled history between the accused and the victim.

Calhoun and his girlfriend, Nicole Gonyou, were low-level cocaine dealers who lived in the Mobile City Estates trailer park in Spruce Grove, Gatward established.

In March 2006, Calhoun and Gonyou allegedly kidnapped the 17-year-old and threatened him. They were charged and were out on bail when Calhoun was shot.

On May 16th, the 17-year-old and Richard Ellis went to Calhoun's trailer armed with a sawed-off, 12-gauge shotgun and a baseball bat. The men robbed the occuapnts of the trailer of some drugs and cash.

On May 18th, just before 3:30 a.m., the 17-year-old set fire to Calhoun's trailer. Calhoun and Gonyou escaped unhurt, Gatward said.

The next night, the 17-year-old and Richard Ellis got drunk at Bing's family restaurant in Spruce Grove. They took the sawed-off shotgun and entered Calhoun's trailer. Calhoun was shot in the jaw and he died on the floor.

Defence lawyer, Robert Joly, reserved his opening statement.

He did offer that Judge Moreau would have no difficulty finding that his client did pull the trigger. "The only issue will be his intention."

Crown testminony was heard from Nicole Gonyou, Calhoun's girlfriend.

After Gonyou was released on bail, having spent several months in jail for charges of kidnapping and threatening the youth, she under a court order not to go near him.

Gonyou said that on May 16th she, Calhoun and several others were sitting in their "business trailer" at Mobile City Estates where they sold drugs when the youth and Richard Ellis walked in.

The youth pointed a sawed-off shotgun at Calhoun and demanded cash, she testified.

After some collective dissing, Gonyou said that next time they returned "they should have some bullets." The 17-year-old and Ellis walked out with $20, apparently an outstanding loan.

The following night, a fire was set outside Gonyou and Calhoun's trailer and the pair moved into the business trailer which had no electricity, gas or telephone.

At around 11:45 p.m. on May 19th, Ellis walked into the bedroom. Using the glowing light from a cellphone keypad, he first lit up Gonyou's face, then Calhoun's. The youth with the gun crept in from behind.

"Ken said, 'Whoa, hey, what's up?' " Gonyou testified. As soon as Kenneth finished the sentence, the gun had been cocked and the trigger was pulled.

"I could smell, I guess it would be gunpowder."

Gonyou said she tried to give Calhoun mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but his jaw was gone. She watched him die on the floor.

Taking the stand in his own defence, the 17-year-old said the shooting was an accident.

He told the court that Calhoun had threatened to hurt him and his family if, by testifying against Gonyou, the woman ended up going to jail for kidnapping and extortion.

The teen said he meant to shoot about a foot and a half over Calhoun's head when he pulled the trigger but Calhoun suddenly moved into the line of fire.

He testified he only wanted to scare Calhoun by firing the gun into the air, planning to then jump him and beat him up.

Now 19, the teenager said he couldn't remember much about what happened that night or about the days leading up to the shooting.

He did remember that a few days before he had gone with the shotgun to Calhoun's business trailer, racked the gun to load a shell into the firing chamber, and demanded Calhoun repay a $20 debt.

The teen left with the money and returned the following night with a friend and poured gasoline along the side of the trailer where Calhoun and Gonyou actually lived. Somehow the trailer caught fire – the teen said he couldn't remember how it happened.

Calhoun and Gonyou survived and moved into the business trailer.

The teen said he went to the business trailer with his friend Richard Ellis, who owned the shotgun and always carried it with him in a guitar case.

Although he doesn't know how it ended up in his hands, he did remember racking the gun before the two of them entered the darkened trailer.

"I didn't want to kill Mr. Calhoun," the accused said on the stand. "I was drunk and I don't feel pain when I'm drunk, so I decided to go and fight him."

He said he saw no chance that the shot would hit Calhoun. "Otherwise I wouldn't have shot him."

The sound of the shotgun blast scared him and he ran off, he testified. He and Ellis hid in some bushes and got a ride to Drayton Valley, "to chill."

Under cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Gatward suggested that, if it weren't for others being present in the trailer when they demanded the $20, the teen intended to kill Calhoun.

"I wouldn't say that," he replied. "He owed me $20 and I wanted my $20 back."

He also denied having said, "Good job. We killed him."

On February 27th closing arguments were presented.

Crown prosecutor Gatward stated the teen planned and deliberately killed Kenneth Calhoun and he told Justice Moreau that the excuse that he just wanted to scare the victim was simply unbelievable.

"It simply smacks of either a tissue of lies or the addled misrepresentations of an addict ... a cocaine pipedream," Gatward said.

Gatward suggested that the shooting was the teen's third attempt at killing Calhoun.

The first time was a few days before the killing, when the youth visited the business trailer demanding Calhoun repay the $20 debt. With others present, he racked the gun. Gatward suggested the youth intended to kill Calhoun that day, but didn't do it because others were there.

The second time was when he returned and poured gasoline along the trailer Calhoun and Gonyou were living in and a fire errupted.

Finally, on May 19th, 2006, after getting drunk with Ellis, he went to Calhoun's trailer and shot and killed him.

The question Judge Moreau faced was whether the teen intended to kill Calhoun or if, as was claimed, he was only trying to scare him.

Defence lawyer Bob Joly said the only intent his client had was intimidation.

"The evidence is believable. It is almost stupid enough to be believable," Joly told the court. "We've got a young man here who hasbeen drinking, doing some drugs and he's not thinking straight."

Young offender verdict

On March 5th, 2008 youth court Judge Marie Moreau rendered her decision and found the teen guilty of second-degree murder.

Moreau ruled the teen intended to kill Kenneth Calhoun when he fired the gun, but that the murder was not pre-meditated.

"This was a pre-emptive strike against a man [this teenager] believed to be dangerous," she said in a detailed judgment read out in court.

Defence lawyer Bob Jolly said in his closing arguments his client only meant to scare Calhoun by shooting above his head, but that Calhoun sat up on the couch and put his head in the line of fire. Moreau rejected the teen's version of events.

The teen had a long history of tension and acrimony with the man he murdered, Moreau said.

Both were heavy drug users and Calhoun was a dealer. At one point, Calhoun fronted the teen $30 worth of drugs, and when the teen couldn't pay him back, Calhoun and his girlfriend kidnapped him and threatened to kill his family while he watched.

The teen later loaned Calhoun $20 and when Calhoun failed to repay him, he threatened him at gunpoint.

Two days later, the teen went to Calhoun's Mobile City Estates trailer and set it on fire. Calhoun and his girlfriend Nicole Gonyou were in the trailer at the time, but were not injured in the blaze.

Moreau ruled all of these incidents amounted to attempts by the teen to intimidate Calhoun, not kill him.

On May 19th, 2006, the teen and a friend were using drugs and drank several ounces of alcohol when they decided to head to Calhoun's trailer, Moreau said. The teen's friend had a sawed-off shotgun he carried everywhere with him in a guitar case, and the teen took it and stuck it in his pants when they approached the trailer.

They banged on the door and burst into the candle-lit trailer. When the teen heard Calhoun's voice, he cocked the gun and fired.

The teen and his friend Ellis fled and ditched the gun nearby. It was later discovered by a 10-year-old boy.

Remaining to be determined is whether the teen will be sentenced as a youth or as an adult.

If he is sentenced as an adult, the teen faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for seven years. If sentenced as a youth, he faces a maximum sentence of four years in closed custody followed by three years in community placement.

The teen was scheduled to make his next court appearance on March 20th, 2008.

deadmonton 2006 - kenneth calhoun