Photo by Whitehorse Star
Norman Larue
Photo by Whitehorse Star
Norman Larue
After three months, the prosecutors in the Norman Larue first-degree murder trial wrapped up their case this morning in Yukon Supreme Court.
After three months, the prosecutors in the Norman Larue first-degree murder trial wrapped up their case this morning in Yukon Supreme Court.
The jury spent Wednesday and part of today listening to wire-tapped conversations between 30-year-old Larue and his girlfriend, Christina Asp.
The jury has already heard individual recordings of both Asp and Larue telling undercover officers about what happened the night 63-year-old Gordon Seybold died.
This is the first time jurors have heard both voices on the same recording.
Larue is accused of attacking Seybold, alongside Asp, inside Seybold's Ibex Valley home, then burning the cabin to the ground in March 2008.
The cell phone conversations between Larue and Asp all take place at the end of July and early August 2009 after Larue had been released from prison and was staying in a Calgary half-way house.
By that point, Asp had been interacting with undercover officers for months, convinced she had been welcomed into a powerful criminal organization.
After he was out of prison, Larue was also offered a job with the gang, doing computer work and as "muscle” for the organization, working with an officer portraying the family's hitman.
On the phone together, Larue and Asp only make guarded references to Seybold and possible work with the organization.
The court has been told Larue wasn't told about what kind of work his girlfriend was doing until he was released.
In one conversation, Asp tells her boyfriend her new friends are very interested in him for his computer skills, and "other skills you have.”
Larue repeatedly asks Asp to clarify what she meant.
"Are you talking about bulldog skills?” he asks.
"Yeah,” she says.
"Ah s--t,” he responds.
Larue says: "If they want bulldog skills, I'm going to need a place to train.”
Asp says that can be arranged.
Later in the conversation, Larue returns to talking about the organization.
"Do they really want me, your people?” he asks.
"Yeah,” Asp replies.
He later tells his girlfriend: "Tell your people if they want bulldog, I need a place to train and then I'll do it.”
During a conversation two days later, after meeting some of the undercover officers, Larue can be heard telling Asp that it bothered him that he didn't know what she was doing while he was in custody, but now he understands.
"I've got one thing to say. You did good, I'm proud of you,” he says.
"They found me, I didn't find them,” Asp responds.
Asp assures her boyfriend that the family's hitman "really likes you.”
On the phone, Asp and Larue refer to one of the high-ranking members of the gang as "uncle” while making guarded references to the night Seybold died.
Larue says he told uncle that "you talked me into letting you come that night.”
He said he assured the man that there was no need to worry, that he had taken care of everything.
"So what does uncle think of me?” Larue asks later in the phone call.
"He likes you; you're exactly what they need,” Asp replies.
"Wanna know something funny?” Larue asks near the end of the conversation. "Uncle looks like a cop.”
Asp and Larue would be arrested for murder four days later.
In their final phone conversation before heading to Strathmore, Alta., where they would eventually be arrested Aug. 4, Larue tells Asp he is getting closer to the officer who played the hitman.
"I think me and (the hitman) are going to be close. If there's anyone I look up to now, it's him.”
The court has already heard a recorded "job interview” of sorts between Larue and that same officer.
It was one of the first pieces of evidence played in the trial when it began and was repeated again this week.
In it, Larue describes attacking Seybold with a bat, his fists and slicing his throat before burning the cabin down.
"I've never pulled a trigger on somebody,” he says on that recording.
"But I'm sure if I could bash someone's brain in, then just stand there and look over the guy and laugh about it, what could be different?”
The jury has been excused until Monday, when the defence will present its case.
During his opening statement back in April, Larue's lawyer, Ray Dieno, told the jury members they will be hearing from his client.
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