Guilty As Charged

BULATCI SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR RCMP OFFICER'S DEATH

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Emrah Bulatci may be going to prison for at
least 25 years but the widow of the RCMP officer he shot two years ago
said that won't make up the void he's left in her life, the life of
their two-year-old daughter and his family.

Jodie Worden cried as she addressed a packed courtroom Thursday and
read two victim impact statements, one she prepared on behalf of their
two-year-old daughter.

"There is no reason you had to pull the trigger four times," she said,
voice raised, eyes fixed on the prisoner's box where Bulatci sat
showing no emotion.

A Supreme Court jury found Bulatci guilty of first degree murder in
the shooting death of RCMP Const. Christopher John Worden earlier
Thursday, day 19 of the trial.

A huge gasp was heard in the courtroom when the jury's foreman read
the decision shortly before 11 a.m. Members of Worden's family were in
the front row, some of them shaking as they awaited the verdict. Jodie
Worden wept and hugged her in-laws. Worden's mother, Mary Anne, who
showed little emotion through the trial, broke down and cried when she
the heard the final decision.

Bulatci bowed his head immediately, his face appeared red and he left
the courtroom quickly.

The jury deliberated for close to 12 hours before reaching the
verdict. The five women and seven men had to decide whether Bulatci
was guilty of first degree murder or manslaughter. The difference
between the two charges was whether he intentionally fired the last
two shots, one of which ripped through Worden's neck.

Bulatci shot Worden, 30, four times in the early morning hours of Oct.
6, 2007 in Hay River. The police officer was responding to an
"innocuous police call" said Crown prosecutor John Cliffe. At the
time, Bulatci - who grew up in Alberta - had been selling crack
cocaine at a residence in the town.

More than two years later, a packed courtroom awaited the
25-year-old's sentence Thursday afternoon, including rows of uniformed
RCMP officers from both the Yellowknife and Hay River
detachments.

Members of Worden's family read emotional statements that left the
room shaken and dozens of people crying.

"Our story was one of a fairy tale but I don't have a happy ending,"
Jodie Worden said, as she talked about meeting Chris in university,
marrying him and moving to the North where he was stationed. "There is
a hole in my soul that can never be filled because of the selfish
actions of a criminal."

She recalled telling their daughter, Alexis, her father loved her,
even now that he's in heaven.

The Wordens talked about how their lives had changed since their older
brother's and son's death - from the mind-numbing first days to the
gruelling trial process. Their voices varied from anger to anguish and
at times, vindication.

Worden's youngest brother Peter spoke first and said he constantly
wondered what life would be like if his brother was still alive.

"Chris and all us kids were supposed to grow old together," he said,
choking back tears.

Cathy Worden, the second eldest, said she stopped believing in the
value of being alive when her brother was murdered. She said she gave
up a career she loved and lost part of her identity.

"I'll never forgive the accused for intruding into my life," she said,
adding she'd become "sickeningly familiar" with "a world full of rats
and vermin that I never wanted to learn about" during the trial
process. Worden died on his parent's 34th wedding anniversary. Mary
Ann Worden, Chris's mother, read a letter she addressed to her son.

She said she wanted nothing more than to switch places with him and
said it was "like having your heart ripped out."

"I knew his job came with risks," said John Worden, Chris's father.
"He used to say, 'Dad, if you can't call the cops, who can you call?'"

"We're left to pick up the pieces of our lives and arrange them in
some working order," he said.

No one referred to Bulatci by his name.

Judge John Vertes called the murder a tragedy on many levels - for the
Worden family, for the town of Hay River and for the Bulatci family
who "saw their son sink into the life of a drug dealer." No one from
the Bulatci family was in court this week.

"An attack on a police officer is an attack on civilized society,"
said Vertes, before announcing Bulatci would serve 25 years in prison,
without the possibility of parole. He said even if Bulatci became
eligible for parole, he'd be under conditions and supervision for the
rest of his life.

"Until all of us start to address the social problems on the streets
of our communities, we can never really come to grips with this
issue," said Vertes in reference to the challenges of poverty,
addiction and "parasitic drug dealers who simply want to make money
off others."