David Caissie loses appeal for murder conviction in ex-partner's death
CBC
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.
A man sentenced to life in prison for the killing of his ex-partner had his appeal dismissed on Thursday.
In January 2019, David Caissie was convicted of first-degree murder of Carol King of Herschel, Sask., in August 2011. His life sentence came with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
The Crown's case was that Caissie admitted to killing her near Rosetown — about 110 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon — and disposing of her body after police ran a so-called Mr. Big sting on Caissie.
Stings of this nature include police posing as criminals and gaining the trust of a suspect.
Caissie filed a notice of appeal with Saskatchewan's highest court on Feb. 2, 2019. In the notice, Caissie said trial Judge Richard Danyliuk should not have allowed the Mr. Big sting evidence.
The appeal judges wrote that Caissie's convictions are based primarily on his multiple confessions that he killed King.
In his appeal, Caissie argued that the evidence garnered from the Mr. Big operation was presumptively inadmissible. He submitted that any admissions he made were either false or unreliable.
However, the appeal judges found that these arguments contained no merit.
According to court documents, King's body was found in August 2011 on an abandoned farmyard in the Herschel area.
Prior to the discovery, King's car was found in a slough. When police removed the car from slough, the driver and passenger side windows were rolled down. Court documents indicated that the keys were in the ignition in the "on" position and the gearshift was in the "drive" position.
Furthermore, a windshield washer wiper fluid "jug" was jammed between the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal, with the accelerator pedal down.
During the Mr. Big sting operation, Caissie confessed to the murder on multiple occasions.
In a second confession, Caissie told an undercover police officer that he went to King's house, grabbed her, tied her up and threw her in the back of her vehicle. He said he drove it to an abandoned farm, strangled her and got rid of the body.
As classes across New Brunswick pause for the holidays, it’s not yet clear which schools are making a dent in chronic absenteeism — a stubborn post-pandemic trend that mostly afflicts the high school cohort, especially in the Anglophone West school district.
CBC Quebec has launched its Make the Season Kind campaign. It's our annual campaign that focuses on food insecurity, while also celebrating kindness, generosity and community spirit around the province.
Premier Wab Kinew says Manitoba will hold a public inquiry as soon as 2026 into the former Progressive Conservative government’s post-election efforts to approve an environmental licence for sand-mining company Sio Silica.
Premier Scott Moe has led the Saskatchewan Party through two straight elections, winning majority governments each time.
Eight weeks after adding a GM BrightDrop van to the fleet of his plumbing and heating business, Marty Salliss has no complaints, only praise.
Nearly half of Alberta’s Grade 6 students failed the provincewide math test in 2024, three years after the province started rolling out its new elementary school curriculum.
Toronto could get new cars on the road whose drivers will never get frustrated by gridlock — because the cars would be driving themselves.
Amidst a cost-of-living crisis, some London-area organizations say they have noticed a decline in donations this holiday season.
Prominent northern leaders have been touting the Arctic economic and security corridor as a "nation-building" project that will bring economic benefits to the two territories it straddles, but others are split on how much good will come out of it.
When the federal government tabled its 2025 budget last month, it included a proposal that tax fraud experts say is long overdue — if also a belated acknowledgement that the Canada Revenue Agency has been repeatedly duped into paying out untold millions in bogus tax refunds to scammers.
Talking with an AI chatbot can successfully convince people to change their votes and could affect the outcome of future elections, according to a new study.
While some are writing wishlists for Santa Claus, a group of Newfoundland and Labrador youth are writing their wishlist for the provincial government.
A horse owner near Stewiacke, N.S., says the current shortage of hay in the province is putting pressure on her financially.