CONDONING SHOOTING MISGUIDED: RCMP

YORKTON -- Even as the jury deliberated in the first-degree murder
trial of Kim Walker before ending a second day with no verdict, it was
easy to find sympathy among those waiting in the ornate lobby of the
Yorkton courthouse for the man who killed his daughter's drug dealer
boyfriend nearly four years ago.

For those who enforce the law, however, those sentiments are
understandable but misguided.

Sgt. Mark Doratti, who commands Yorkton's municipal RCMP detachment,
knows there is a great deal of support for the Walkers -- both in the
eastern Saskatchewan city of about 17,000 people and throughout the
country as the trial has attracted national attention.

But Doratti said the Walker family had options to help their
drug-addicted 16-year-old daughter Jadah without Kim Walker shooting
to death James Hayward, 24, on March 17, 2003.

"Are we ready to say it's OK for one person to take another person's
life?" he said in an interview this week.

"There are alternatives, and if we let our emotions get the best of
us, we'll all be in a wreck."

Walker's lawyer Morris Bodnar has criticized the RCMP for treating
Hayward -- who had been convicted of trafficking and was believed by
police to be selling marijuana -- with "kid gloves" and not seeking a
narcotics search warrant for his home.

Nick Zulyniak, a retired farmer waiting for the verdict, said many
Yorkton residents blame the police for not moving on Hayward before
the shooting ever happened.

"The real sad story is the guy should have been nailed before," he
said.

But Doratti said police were building a case against
him.

"The actions taken by Kim Walker prevented us from doing what we were
going to do," said Doratti.

"Everything was unfolding but it was unfolding slowly."

In fact, police were just minutes away from serving a warrant on
Hayward's house to search for a weapon used in an armed robbery that
police believed was in the home. Hayward was not a suspect in the robbery.

Doratti said even four years ago there was also help available for
drug addicts through the health and education systems.

But he acknowledges the Mental Health Act warrant by which Jadah
Walker was temporarily committed for assessment just before the
shooting was not a good tool because it is meant to be used for mental
illness.

The situation has now greatly improved, he said, because the
provincial government has passed the Youth Detoxification and
Stabilization Act.

It's a law that allows parents to ask a judge to commit their
drug-addicted child for treatment for up to 15 days.

Walker's trial has seen testimony full of disturbing details -- of
high school students getting high over the lunch hour, of easy
availability of marijuana, of marijuana and hashish leading to
ecstasy, mushrooms, morphine and crack cocaine.

Doratti said he didn't want to minimize the issue but the drug problem
in Yorkton is more that of individuals than of the broader community.

But young Yorkton residents waiting for the verdict said marijuana and
ecstasy are prevalent and crystal meth is increasingly common.

"It's way too big. It's getting out of hand," said 20-year-old Aron
Nielsen, who knows the Walker family.

Mitchell Hitchens, 18, said the trial had opened some people's
eyes.

"Older people don't really know how much drugs are out there. Now they
know,"

Nielsen, who knows the Walker family, said he hoped Walker received "a
slap on the wrist."

"He saved many lives by doing it. But it's still murder, no matter how
you look at it," he said.

Justice Jennifer Pritchard told the jury they must find Walker, who
has admitted causing Hayward's death but said he did not intend to
kill him, guilty of at least manslaughter.

Zulyniak said he hoped Walker was found guilty of the lesser charge of
manslaughter and not first-or second-degree murder, but acknowledged
he was not the most ardent supporter of Walker in Yorkton.

"Some guy said he should get a medal. That's ridiculous," he said.