STONEY NAKODA – Charges have been stayed against Stoney Nakoda man McFarland Kootenay, 35, after no witnesses showed up for the Calgary trial that was set to start on Monday (March 11).
Kootenay was facing 10 charges including criminal negligence causing death, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and impaired driving causing bodily harm in connection to a 2016 vehicle rollover where two people were killed and five people were injured.
“We didn’t have any witnesses. They didn’t show up. We couldn’t find some of them and the ones we did subpoena didn’t show up,” Crown Prosecutor Doug Simpson said.
On the day in question, Cochrane RCMP and other emergency personnel responded to the complaint of a single vehicle rollover on the Trans-Canada Highway near Hermitage Road, approximately 10 km west of the intersection with Highway 22.
Of the seven people in the vehicle, five were ejected with Travisha Powderface, 23, and Charlie Shortneck, 30, found dead on the scene.
The other two were extracted from the vehicle and all the survivors were taken to hospital in serious condition.
Alcohol was suspected to be a factor.
Initial reports from the accident indicated the driver was a female in her 30s who was airlifted by STARS ambulance to Foothills Hospital in Calgary, but it was later discovered through the investigation Kootenay was the suspected driver.
The trial was set to proceed at the courthouse in Calgary.
When a Crown prosecutor stays criminal charges, it means the legal proceeding is no longer being actively prosecuted in the courts, however the charges are not officially withdrawn. The Crown has a year to reactivate the charges should new evidence be found.
