The first degree murder trial of Bernie Herman is now finished hearing evidence.
The last person to take the stand at King’s Bench Court in Prince Albert Thursday was the accused, who told the court that the victim Braden Herman was abusive and that the sexual relationship the two had was not consensual.
On cross examination Crown Prosecutor Jennifer Schmidt pushed back on Bernie’s telling of events. Schmidt brought up that on May 11 2021, the day Braden was shot Bernie called him over 50 different times.
“That’s obsessive,” she said.
The Crown prosecutor as well questioned Bernie’s telling of events in regards to the sexual relationship between him and Braden not being consensual. One instance she brought up was that Bernie testified he was sexually assaulted by Braden when the two were sleeping in the same bedroom located in the basement of Bernie and Janice Herman’s house. Schmidt brought up that after that night Bernie continued to sleep in the room with Braden while also exchanging nude photos with him over cell phone. She as well brought up that it was Janice who kicked Braden out of the family’s home.
“It was her decision to ask him to leave,” said Bernie.
Schmidt as well questioned Bernie’s telling of events in regards to the actual shooting. During his testimony the accused said before he shot Braden he thought he saw something in Braden’s hand. Schmidt honed in on the fact Bernie couldn’t identify what Braden had in his hand. She as well questioned Bernie’s testimony that Braden shoved his hands down his pants, as Bernie was wearing his RCMP duty belt, which would make this difficult. The Crown prosecutor remarked the facts of what happened in the isolated area north of Prince Albert were clear.
“You shot a naked man in the bushes who had no shoes on,” said Schmidt.
Bernie’s RCMP training was as well brought up, specifically that after shooting someone RCMP officers are supposed to attempt life saving measures and call for help, which Bernie did not do after shooting Braden.
The Crown mentioned that at the time of the shooting Bernie’s marriage to his wife Janice was not in good shape and that there were some financial issues and many issues causing him stress. She as well mentioned that Bernie’s daughter had distanced herself from him due to the situation with Braden.
Schmidt read through a number of text messages Bernie sent his wife including one where he appeared to be upset with Braden.
“Well he’s gone too far and I’ve had enough,” Schmidt read.
The matter is set to return to court next Wednesday where both the Crown and defense will have the chance to make their final submissions. The case is being heard by a judge alone without a jury.
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The first degree murder trial of Bernie Herman heard testimony about data taken from a number of cell phones Wednesday.
Calgary Police Service Constable Riley Babott, a trained digital forensic examiner was tasked with pulling data from the cell phones of Bernie and Janice Herman along with the cell phone of Braden Herman.
At the start of his testimony the Calgary Police Service officer explained the processes and tools that he used to extract the data from the phones and then how he compiled the information into a readable report. Babott said in the case of Braden’s phone the data he was able to pull was limited as the phone had been damaged, because it was found on the side of a highway and he was not able to bypass the phone’s security.
The technician was able to pull text message conversations between Janice and Bernie which showed the couple were having problems in their marriage and that Bernie’s relationship with Braden was the root of them. In one of the messages Janice complained that Bernie would find time to regularly call Braden and talk to him on the phone while ignoring her.
“You want him, not me,” Janice wrote.
In another text exchange Janice told Bernie she had been alone for seven months while he was having the time of his life. In another message Janice told Bernie she had asked him to not have any further contact with Braden.
“I told you to cut all ties and you didn’t,” she wrote.
Babott as well testified he was able to recover screen shots from the phones which showed messages sent by Braden to Bernie. Some of the messages sent by Braden to Bernie were sexual in nature and in one of them he called Bernie a homophobic slur. In a recovered screen shot Braden appeared to threaten to out Bernie.
“You’re about to be exposed if you don’t call me,” the message read.
On May 11 2021, the day Braden was shot it was found that Bernie had called Braden close to 20 separate times with only a small handful of those calls being answered. That same day a text message from Bernie to Janice was found where Bernie admitted to killing Braden and told his wife he loved her and their kids.
“I shot and killed him and won’t be around for it,” the message read.
The trial is set to resume Thursday morning at King’s Bench Court in Prince Albert, where the Crown is set to rest their case. The trial is being heard by a judge alone.
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The wife of Bernie Herman took to the stand Tuesday during the second day of his first degree murder trial in Prince Albert.
Janice Herman testified about how Braden Herman lived with her and her husband for close to a year at their home in Prince Albert. Janice said Braden and her husband became friends in the winter of 2018 and that Braden would come over and watch hockey games with Bernie. She said they eventually allowed him to move in to their house.
“He always told us he had no place to go,” she said.
Janice told the court there were no issues when Braden first moved in with the couple, but she said eventually issues began to emerge. Janice said Braden would get upset when Bernie would hug and kiss her after he got home from work. She added Braden would also get upset when he didn’t get his way or wasn’t being paid attention to. She said there were times Bernie would sleep in the basement with Braden because Braden told them he had anxiety which was helped when someone slept next to him.
Eventually Janice testified she told Braden to leave the house, when he got into an argument with Bernie while her parents were visiting.
“I couldn’t put up with him anymore,” she said.
During her testimony Janice spoke about how after Braden had been kicked out of the house he would regularly come back to the house and damage property while also assaulting her and her husband on a number of occasions. She said she eventually pressed charges against Braden when he rammed her vehicle with his pushing it into their garage door. This incident also led to a non contact order being put in place.
Under questioning from the Crown, Janice did admit to socializing with Braden while the non contact order was in place, the Crown showed photos taken of the two together the night before Braden was shot. That night the two were at the apartment of Sheldon Echodh along with a number of others after previously meeting up at a bar. Janice said she stepped out onto the apartment’s balcony to smoke when Braden came out to take a phone call, which he told Janice was from Bernie. Janice she said she overheard some of what Braden said to her husband.
“Holy sounds like you just wanna kill me,” she remembered him saying.
Another witness who took the stand Tuesday was Bernie and Janice’s daughter Jana Macdonald. She told the court she along with her now husband and child lived with her parents while Braden was in the house. Macdonald testified the relationship between Bernie and Braden was one of friends but then developed into one which was like a father and son relationship. Macdonald added it eventually evolved into a relationship she found to be strange.
“They’d be watching TV and Braden would go and hold my dad’s hand,” she said.
Macdonald explained she as well found Braden to be possessive of her father and would get offended when she would refer to Bernie as her father.
“That’s not just your dad,” she recalled him saying.
On May 11 2021 Macdonald said she was in contact via text message with her dad who was looking for her mom. She also was sent a Facebook message by Braden which she said she was not able to understand, but mentioned her mother. She took a screen shot of the text and sent it to her father and said Bernie did not seem happy that Braden was with Janice. Macdonald did as well admit to driving her mother to one of her father’s colleague’s house where her mother showed the colleague a text message from Bernie. Jana testified she did not see the text message.
The trial as well heard testimony from Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) Sgt. Curtis Bradbury, who was one of the investigating officers called to the scene where Braden’s body was found. Bradbury described the scene where Braden was found as “tight quarters” with the road made of a mix of sand and dirt. He said the area where Braden’s body was found had lots of garbage laying around, which included used condoms.
Bradbury testified when he examined Braden’s body he noticed some bruising along with what appeared to be a wound on his left shoulder.
“He was fully nude, he didn’t have any clothes on,” he said.
During his examination of the crime scene Bradbury said he did not see anything laying around which he would classify as being a possible weapon. After Braden’s body was taken from the crime scene Bradbury continued to search the scene where he eventually found a bullet shell casing. Before joining PAPS Bradbury testified he had worked for the RCMP and and recognized the spent ammunition as being the same kind that is issued to RCMP officers.
“I ended up seizing that casing,” he said.
The trial is set to continue Wednesday morning at King’s Bench in Prince Albert.
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The first degree murder trial of Bernie Herman got underway Monday at King’s Bench Court in Prince Albert.
Bernie, a former RCMP officer with over 30 years of service, is charged with killing Braden Herman in May of 2021. While the two men share the same last name and have roots in the La Loche area they are not related.
Before calling witnesses to the stand Bernie officially entered a plea of not guilty to a single charge of first degree murder. The Crown as well admitted several exhibits in to evidence. These exhibits included a number of seized cell phones, the autopsy report for Braden, surveillance footage and Bernie’s RCMP issued service weapon.
The first witness heard from Monday morning was RCMP Constable Richard Wittal, who worked with Bernie in the traffic services unit at the Prince Albert RCMP detachment. The Crown asked Wittal a number of questions in regards to the practice of officers wearing their uniforms and duty belts home, which Wittal said was not a common practice for officers assigned to traffic services. The Crown as well asked Wittal about use of force protocols in place for the RCMP.
Eventually the Crown asked Wittal about the night of May 11 2021, when Bernie’s wife and daughter came to his home and showed him a text message from Bernie.
“I saw a text that said, I shot Braden, it’s over and done with,” said Wittal.
After seeing the text, Wittal said he went back in to his house, where he tried to call Bernie, who didn’t answer. He said he then called his Staff Sgt.
During cross examination, the defense asked Wittal if he remembered Bernie coming to work with noticeable injuries like blackeyes and scratches, which Wittal said he remembered. Wittal as well testified there were times when Bernie would move his personal truck from the front of the P.A RCMP detachment to the back of the building so Braden would not know he was there.
The second witness called was another RCMP officer Constable Jackson Bigfellow. Bigfellow was on duty the night of May 11 2021 and testified he was called to attend the home of Staff Sgt. Chad McLeod and was told that Bernie may have killed someone.
When he arrived at the house Bigfellow was eventually given Bernie’s duty belt and also seized some RCMP clothing, which he eventually turned over to members from the Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS).
The final witness the trial heard from Monday was Constable Daniel Logan, a member of the PAPS forensic identification section who was tasked with photographing Bernie’s truck along with the crime scene. When talking about the crime scene Logan said no manmade weapons like a broken bottle or a knife were found.
Logan was as well responsible for taking pictures of Bernie after he was arrested. While he was taking pictures, Logan said he did notice some nicks on Bernie’s hands, but did not note any major injuries. The officer did not take a statement from Bernie but was asked by defense counsel about his demeaner.
“He (Bernie) was quiet,” Logan said.
A number of Braden’s family members were in court Monday. Among them was his brother Brett Herman who spoke with media after the trial had wrapped up for the day. He said it was a difficult time for the family, especially with the trial getting underway so close to the holidays.
“(It’s a) difficult time, I mean Christmas is around the corner and we’re trying to be together, terrible timing for everything,” he said.
The trial is set to resume Tuesday morning.