Emotional show of support for pair accused in Mountie killings

 The curious and the concerned left with as many questions as they came with yesterday about why two men have been charged with first-degree murder more than two years after the fatal shootings of four RCMP officers.
    Defence lawyers for Shawn Hennessey, 28, and Dennis Cheeseman, 23, both of Barrhead, Alta., appeared in provincial court in Mayerthorpe, where they succeeded in having the case put over to Aug. 9.
    Those hoping to find out exactly why the accused have been charged didn’t find out any more than what police already have said. The two are alleged to have helped James Roszko in some way before he ambushed the Mounties on his property on March 3, 2005.
    Police admit the accused were not on Roszko’s farm at the time of the shootings.
    But family and friends—some seething with anger and others openly crying—had their own ideas about what is going on.
    Outside court, they lashed out at the justice system, accusing the RCMP and Alberta’s Justice Department of treating the two men like scapegoats.
    “It is just a big political thing because they have got lots of pressure to come down on somebody,” said Chris Gordon, who drove into Mayerthorpe early yesterday to line up for one of the limited courtroom seats.
    “It’s a bunch of crap. So far they are being portrayed as cop-killers, as haters,” he added. “They are respectable people in the community. They work hard every day. They’ve got families.”
    Inside the courtroom, another man stood up and politely asked Judge Ken Tjosvold if the court was going to hide anything.
    Tjosvold patiently said “No” as an RCMP officer wearing body armour watched nervously from across the room.
    CTV News reported last night that a source close to the Cheeseman and Hennessey families said the pair had been the targets of an RCMP undercover operation known as the “Mister Big Sting.”
    The source told CTV that Cheeseman, and later Hennessey, were befriended by undercover agents who supplied them with drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes, and bought them expensive clothes and took them on trips.
    The source said crimes were staged to include the two men, and after eight months Cheeseman quit his job after being offered a large amount of money to work for the bogus organization.
    Last Friday, a pivotal player in the sting flew to Barrhead in a private plane and met the two men, the source said.
    Days later, they were arrested.
    RCMP have confirmed undercover work played a part in the arrests but have not given any specifics. They refused comment yesterday on the allegations of the source, saying the process would have to play out in court.
    Friends and work colleagues interviewed since the arrests have characterized the accused, who are brothers-in-law, as hard workers who may have known Roszko but were never close to him.
    “Our whole world has just exploded,” Shawn Hennessey’s grandfather said outside court before the hearing. Earlier this week, John Hennessey also was picked up by RCMP and questioned about the crime.
    “We are so nervous. I’m not going to say anything.”
    The courthouse crackled with tension as all who entered were made to walk through a metal detector by armed guards.
    One distraught man—his face flushed and his body shaking with sobs—startled the courtroom when he stood up and asked for people’s attention.
    “I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ. We need to pray,” he said as friends held his hand to console him.
    Hennessey and Cheeseman are the first to be charged since Roszko gunned down constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, and Leo Johnston on his farm outside Mayerthorpe.
    They were guarding evidence in his Quonset hut related to a stolen parts and marijuana grow-op investigation.
    Roszko shot himself after other officers who had just arrived on the scene returned fire.
    There always have been suggestions that someone must have helped him return to his property over many snow-filled kilometres after he fled the previous day in his truck.
    The vehicle later was found more than 20 km away.
    None of the relatives of the slain Mounties attended the brief hearing, where the Crown announced the two accused will be prosecuted together, although the case could be split at some point.
    Mayerthorpe Mayor Albert Schalm said the town has had a rough ride since the shootings and people know it could take years for the case to make it through the courts.
    “We just want to get on with our lives,” he said.