Anthony Burley sentenced in death of Saskatoon man James “Ed” Swift

Article content

Wearing an orange jail sweater in the prisoner’s box of a Saskatoon provincial courtroom, Anthony Burley was sentenced Thursday for his role in a fatal stabbing north of Saskatoon.

“I’d just like to say I’m sorry,” Burley, 30, told Judge Jane Wootten before she gave him a three-year prison term for being an accessory after the fact to manslaughter and for evading police.

Article content

Court heard Burley stayed inside his white Honda Civic as 40-year-old James “Ed” Swift and Swift’s friend, Virginia Belhumeur, were stabbed outside the car in the RM of Corman Park on Aug. 29, 2022.

He then drove away, leaving the victims bleeding in a ditch on Range Road 3050 near Penner Road.

Two other men in his car — Colton Robert Lischka, 31, and Ashtin Ritzand, 30 — are accused of killing Swift and seriously injuring Belhumeur, who were strangers they had met earlier that morning in an off-sale parking lot.

Their second-degree murder trial was held last month in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench. Associate Chief Justice Michael Tochor reserved his decision, but hasn’t selected a return date.

Testifying for the Crown, Burley said Swift was trying to fight Lischka while they were in the car, and that he saw the two men get out of the car after they pulled over in a rural area.

He said he didn’t know there’d been a stabbing until he was arrested later that day. But through his guilty plea, he admits that he knew Lischka and Ritzand had caused Swift’s death when he helped them escape.

Article content

Article content

He also admitted causing a high-speed chase in the city’s Evergreen neighbourhood after refusing to stop for police.

Burley was initially charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder, but those charges were stayed in 2023.

On Thursday, Wootten accepted his guilty pleas, along with the Crown and defence’s jointly proposed sentence: two years on the accessory charge, and an additional year for evading police.

Burley was out of custody until his arrest on Feb. 7 after an incident in Moose Jaw. The city’s police confirmed he appeared in court on Monday and is now charged with assault, assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, uttering threats and breaching release conditions.

Belhumeur didn’t provide a victim impact statement at Burley’s sentencing hearing, but her murder trial testimony about his involvement aligns with the agreed facts, Crown prosecutor Paul Scott said.

She testified that Lischka and Swift were arguing in the car before they stopped on a grid road around 5:30 a.m. She had arranged a $300 cocaine purchase, and Swift was upset about paying for most of it, Belhumeur testified.

Article content

She said Burley stayed in the car with her while Lischka, Ritzand and Swift got out. She told court she saw Lischka holding a knife, but didn’t see who stabbed Swift.

Belhumeur testified that Ritzand pulled her out of the car, stole her phone so she couldn’t call for help and said “You’re next” before chasing her down and stabbing her in the neck.

Lischka’s lawyer, Nicholas Stooshinoff, highlighted inconsistencies between Belhumeur’s testimony at the trial and preliminary hearing.

During last year’s preliminary hearing, she said she saw Ritzand slit Swift’s throat before Lischka said “You’re next” and chased her with a knife. She said she couldn’t see who stabbed her, but believed it was Lischka based on his shirt colour.

The autopsy shows Swift was stabbed, not slashed, in the neck. Ritzand’s lawyer, Blaine Beaven, suggested that Belhumeur tailored her trial testimony after learning that what she said at the preliminary hearing couldn’t be true.

Belhumeur said she missed things in her initial police statement because she was on a cocktail of drugs, and insisted that her memory is better now that she’s sober.

Article content

Stooshinoff and Beaven noted that she said the same thing at the preliminary hearing.

During re-examination, Belhumeur told court she never implicated Burley in any of her statements.

“And you are prepared to say anything to get (Lischka and Ritzand) convicted,” Stooshinoff said during cross-examination.

“No, that’s not true. They were there. They were the ones who did it,” Belhumeur replied.

Ritzand didn’t testify at the judge-alone trial, but Lischka did.

“I never had a knife at all,” he said, testifying that the last thing he saw was Burley and Swift standing behind the car.

He said Burley’s hands and arms were covered in blood when he told him and Ritzand to pull Belhumeur out of the back seat, which he refused to do.

“I sat back in my seat and closed the door and then I didn’t see what happened after that.”

“Did you see anybody stab Ed Swift?” Stooshinoff asked.

“I did not,” Lischka replied.

He said Burley drove them home and said “‘I don’t know what happened, I just f — ing snapped.’ ”

He said Swift and Burley were arguing because Burley was holding the cocaine and refused to give it to Swift, which angered Swift because he’d paid for most of the drugs.

Article content

“There was a point where I had kind of turned back in my seat and said, ‘Would you guys shut up already, you guys all bought the bag together, who cares who’s holding it,’ ” Lischka testified.

He said Swift got upset and tried to choke him from the back seat, and Swift and Burley continued to argue until Burley told Ritzand to stop the car.

Lischka said they met the victims after Burley, his roommate, almost hit Swift in the Hose and Hydrant off-sale parking lot. Swift and Burley confronted each other, and Belhumeur told them she had a photo of Burley’s licence plate, Lischka said. He told court Burley eventually gave Swift $50 and took a cab with the victims to his house, leaving Ritzand to drive Burley’s car.

Swift was “very intoxicated” at the house, but they were getting along, Lischka said. He testified that Belhumeur, Swift and Burley wanted cocaine, and he was coerced into going with them to get the drugs.

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content