A Moncton man on trial for murder was arrested at a hospital where he was receiving treatment for a bullet wound on the day after the crime he is accused of committing, a jury heard Thursday.
Riley Phillips, 20, is on trial for second-degree murder. It’s alleged he killed Joedin Leger, 18, on April 25, 2022.
The Crown entered medical records into evidence Thursday saying Phillips went to the Moncton Hospital on April 26, 2022, to receive treatment for a gunshot wound.
Other records outline treatment he received at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre between April 29, 2022, and May 19, 2022. One of those documents states Phillips had “a metallic foreign body (bullet) within the soft tissue” of his right hand.
On Thursday, jurors heard from a police officer who arrested Phillips at the Moncton Hospital on April 26, 2022.
RCMP major crimes unit Cpl. Maxime Lavoie testified he was part of the investigating team.
The day after Leger’s death, Lavoie said police received a call saying Phillips was at the Moncton Hospital with what appeared to be a gunshot wound, so he went there to determine if it was linked to Leger’s death.
Lavoie said he took Phillips aside in the hospital and questioned him. He described Phillips as having what appeared to be a fresh, “professional” bandage over his right hand.
Officer saw ‘circular wound’
Lavoie said Phillips showed him the wound.
“I could see when he lifted the bandage that he had a circular wound” roughly a quarter inch in diameter, Lavoie said, showing the jury that the wound was on the fleshy part of Phillips’s right hand between the index finger and his thumb.
There was no exit wound.
Lavoie said after he spoke to Phillips, he called the RCMP’s lead investigator into Leger’s death. The other investigator told him several pieces of information.
Under cross-examination, Lavoie said that information included that Leger’s girlfriend, Chantal Boudreau, was selling drugs from their Logan Lane duplex where he was shot, and that Leger was her “security.”
Lavoie said he arrested Phillips for Leger’s death. He read Phillips his rights, allowed him to briefly speak to a lawyer, and then took him to the Codiac RCMP detachment. Lavoie said under cross-examination that he was also involved in Phillips’s release from custody the next day, which was April 27.
The jury has heard that it wasn’t the first time Phillips was arrested and released after Leger’s death.
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard police were called to a home on Nancy Street in Moncton hours after Leger’s death. The jury hasn’t heard why police responded to the home.
There were several people in the home, including Phillips and Hayden Leblanc. The Crown alleges Phillips, Leblanc and four others were involved in a home invasion and robbery of Leger’s Logan Lane duplex.
RCMP Cpl. Bruno Labbe testified about detaining Phillips in the Nancy Street home, describing how his right hand appeared to have a bloody bandage.
Phillips, the jury heard, was arrested that day but was later released. The jury heard no gunshot residue test was done on Phillips’s hand after his arrest on Nancy Street. That testing could indicate whether a person had fired a gun.
RCMP Const. Anne Richard also testified on Thursday. She accompanied Leger’s body to an autopsy in Saint John in the hours after his death. The autopsy was performed by Dr. Marek Godlewski.
Richard said she seized several items during the autopsy, including a sample of Leger’s blood, swabs of his hands, a gunshot residue sample, and a bullet that was removed from Leger’s body.
The jury has heard that a bullet from his body was matched to a .38 revolver police that was found at a Moncton apartment last year during a separate investigation. The bullet and revolver have been entered as exhibits in the trial.
The jury has also heard that a homemade gun was found in Leger’s duplex after his death, with a spent .22 calibre casing still inside.
After the testimony from the two officers, the judge sent the jury home for the rest of the day, saying there were legal issues to discuss with the lawyers before the next witness testifies on Friday.
