A firearms examiner took the stand Friday on the last day of the voir dire portion of Greg Fertuck’s murder trial.
RCMP forensic specialist Kenneth Chan analyzed three shell casings: two found in the gravel pit where police believed Greg Fertuck shot and killed his ex-wife, Sheree Fertuck, on December 7, 2015. Police took the third shell casing from the defendant’s house.
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“(The three) expended cartridges…were likely fired from a 22-caliber Long or Long Rifle firearm with a left-slanting or rectangular firing pin,” Chan wrote in a memo summarizing his findings.
After microscopic analysis, Chan’s report determined that the two shell casings in the well were fired from the same gun. Results were inconclusive as to whether it matched a shell casing taken from the Saskatoon home of Greg Fertuck.
Sheree Fertuck was last seen on December 7, 2015. Her estranged husband, Greg Fertuck, was arrested and charged in June 2019.
Facebook / Saskatchewan RCMP
On the stand, Chan testified that he was never told by the Crown or the RCMP that near the conclusion of a Mr. Big sting operation, Greg Fertuck claimed to have used a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic rifle to shoot Sheree.
“Nobody told me that specifically,” Chan testified via video.
The court heard that Chan was only given a general description of the weapon allegedly involved: a .22 caliber rifle. Chan agreed with defense attorney Mike Nolin that .22 caliber is the most common type of ammunition.
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Because he didn’t have a particular make or model, Chan said he couldn’t contact a manufacturer to ask about the type of hammer it uses. Nor did he search a database to compare the casings to images of Ruger 10/22 casings.
Greg Fertuck told undercover police that he dropped the rifle in the Biggar, Sask., area after shooting Sheree.
The weapon has never been found. Sheree Fertuck’s body has also never been found, despite Greg Fertuck taking undercover agents to the rural area where he claimed to have left it.
The family last saw Sheree Fertuck leaving her farm in the Kenaston, Sask., area around 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2015. They believed she was driving her truck to a nearby gravel pit as part of your transportation operation.
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They later found the vehicle parked in the pit with his jacket, cell phone and keys inside the truck’s cabin.
All testimony to date has occurred within a voir dire or admissibility hearing. Judge Richard Danyliuk is scheduled to rule on March 30 on what can be applied to the trial.
A court exhibit image shows the gravel pit where Sheree Fertuck would use a front-end loader to fill the trailer attached to her truck.
court display
The central question of the voir dire decision will likely be whether or not Danyliuk will consider the RCMP sting admissible.
After the judge’s decision, defense attorneys can decide whether to call their own witnesses.
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How Greg Fertuck Went From Suspect To Mr. Big In The Sheree Fertuck Case
Over the course of nearly a year, RCMP conducted 130 orchestrated interactions with Greg Fertuck, where undercover police officers posed as their co-workers in a staged criminal organization.
The operation came to a head on June 21, 2019 at the James Hotel in Saskatoon, where the defendant told undercover police that he shot and killed Sheree.
The defense has said the RCMP manipulated Greg Fertuck, whom his lawyers describe as a lying alcoholic with memory problems.
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