WESTASKIWIN, Alta. — The trial for a man charged with attempted murder in the shooting of two Mounties in rural Alberta has begun with him pleading not guilty.
Sawyer Robison (SOY'-yuhr ROH'-bih-son) has also told a judge he is not guilty of assault causing bodily harm and four weapons-related charges.
Robison, who is 30, was arrested following a standoff on his family's farm near Killam, southeast of Edmonton, in 2012.
An RCMP forensics officer was the first to testify about numerous guns and fired bullets discovered in a home on the property.
Cpl. Christine Bramhoff said seven guns, including a sniper rifle, and a United States army sniper training book were found in a bedroom with mail belonging to Robison.
Two handguns were also lying on the kitchen floor beside the naked body of a dead man.
Robison had also been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his uncle, Brad Clarke, but that charge was discontinued during a preliminary hearing.
The shooting shocked several residents of the area, who said it was hard to believe such a friendly farm family could be at the centre of such trouble. They described Robison as a quiet photographer and musician.
Few details of the shooting have been made public, but RCMP said at the time that a domestic violence assault led four officers to search for an illegal handgun on the Robison farm on Feb. 7, 2012.
Two Mounties walked into a house on the property and shots were fired. Constables Sheldon Shah and Sidney Gaudette were hit but managed to get out of the home and were taken to hospital.
Officers began a search for Robison, who they alleged had been in the home at the time of the shooting and fled in a pickup truck.
RCMP credited an emotional public plea by Robison's parents with his peaceful arrest three days later on a country road in the same area as his family's farm.
Shah and Gaudette, whose fathers were both Mounties, had started their careers in the force at the Killam detachment. They spent several months recovering from their wounds and later returned to work.
