Confession of teen questioned

A Saddle Lake teen’s confession to repeatedly stabbing a 22-year-old Edmonton man may have been provoked by a crucial misunderstanding between “and” and “or,” his lawyer argued Monday.

An eight-day manslaughter trial opened Monday for the teen, who can’t be named because he was 16 on June 19, 2011, the night he allegedly stabbed Bruce Dumais.

Dumais died in hospital after he was found bleeding on the pavement on 107th Avenue near 106th Street shortly after midnight.

Crown prosecutor Keith Nicholls urged Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Juliana Topolniski to undertake “a rigorous analysis” of whether the teen understood what he was doing two months later at the St. Paul RCMP detachment, when he told an Edmonton homicide detective about what happened that night.

Court watched video of the teen.

With his mother at his side, he confesses to stabbing Dumais in the arm and shoulder.

Topolniski’s decision on the admissibility of the evidence will hinge on whether the teen knowingly waived his right to have a lawyer present at the time of his statement.

Before the confession, Cardoso had read a statement explaining the teen could have both a parent “and” a lawyer there with him.

In his repeated attempts to clarify what that meant, however, he told the teen he could have a parent “or” a lawyer there.