Temporary ban ordered at trial for women accused in Gallagher homicide

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An interim publication ban ordered on Monday in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench will temporarily prevent media from reporting on a high-profile murder trial.

Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce, 31, and Summer-Sky Jodylynn Henry, 26, are charged with first-degree murder in connection with the disappearance and death of Megan Michelle Gallagher on Sept. 20, 2020.

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Their judge-alone trial — scheduled for 39 days — began Monday with pretrial applications.

At the outset, the Crown requested a sweeping publication ban “restricting the media reporting, publication, broadcasting or dissemination in any way of the proceedings, including any evidence led, submissions made, exhibits filed or victim impact statements in the proceedings herein.”

The discretionary ban’s purpose is to protect the upcoming jury trials of two men who are also accused in Gallagher’s death.

“The circumstances of the offence are particularly shocking, would remain in the mind of prospective jurors long after their publication, and have the potential to create bias in prospective jurors,” the Crown’s application states.

Justice Richard Danyliuk ordered an interim ban, but gave media an opportunity to oppose the ban, should they choose to do so, at a later date.

He noted that media were only made aware of the publication ban application on Monday.

Danyliuk admonished lawyers for the defence and the Crown for various application delays leading up to the trial, saying he will ensure that what recently happened in the Taylor Kennedy case (a stay of proceeding because of delays) will not happen in this case.

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He then ordered lawyers to turn their chairs around and make eye contact with people in the public gallery, including Gallagher’s family.

“These are the people we serve,” he said.

“We owe a duty to the public who we serve. The justice system doesn’t exist for us, the lawyers and the judges. It exists for them. It exists for those people out there and beyond the walls.

“No more delays, no more late files, no more failing communications. Be ready,” Danyliuk concluded.

Peeteetuce and Henry are two of nine people who were charged in 2022, two years after Gallagher, a 30-year-old mother, went missing from Saskatoon.

Her remains were found along the banks of the South Saskatchewan River near St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2022, based on information provided by three people involved in disposing of her body.

During their sentencing hearings in 2023, court heard Jessica Faye Badger paid John Wayne Sanderson to drive Gallagher’s body out of the city. Ernest Vernon Whitehead helped Sanderson do so. All three pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to human remains.

Last month, Robert “Bobby” Thomas was sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 18 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The details from his sentencing hearing, including his involvement in Gallagher’s death, were banned from publication to protect the upcoming jury trials.

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