Men plead guilty to 2015 Forest Lawn killing
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: November 8, 2017 6:27 PM | Last Updated: November 8, 2017
Dyson White and Jerry Goodeagle's murder trial was to begin Wednesday morning
Two men have pleaded guilty Wednesday — on the day their murder trial was supposed to begin — to their roles in the fatal shooting a man in Calgary's Forest Lawn neighbourhood in 2015.
Dyson White, 39, entered a guilty plea to manslaughter while Jerry Goodeagle, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Jonathan Schmeikal, 34.
The jury, which was selected last week, was brought into the courtroom after the pleas.
"I do want to thank you very much for the time and energy that you've spent," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Rosemary Nation told jurors.
"Some of you might be relieved ... some of you might be disappointed."
On Sep. 30, 2015, police were called to the 2600 block of 43rd Street S.E. to find Schmeikal dead.
At the time, police said the fatal shooting in Forest Lawn was drug related.
Victim impact statements have been written by Schmeikal's family — who were in the courtroom for the pleas — and will be read at a sentencing hearing later in November.