His scheduled jury trial contributed to publication bans being issued on the sentencing hearings for three co-accused in Gallagher’s death.
Author of the article:
Bre McAdam • Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Published Mar 06, 2025 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 2 minute read
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Instead of having a jury trial, Thomas Richard Sutherland, 45, re-elected to have a judge-alone trial on April 28, 2025 in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench. He is charged with manslaughter and unlawful confinement in the death of Megan Gallagher in 2020.Photo by Matt Smith /Saskatoon StarPhoenix
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One of two men with scheduled jury trials in connection with the death of Saskatoon woman Megan Michelle Gallagher has re-elected to be tried by only a judge.
Thomas Richard Sutherland made his formal re-election in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench on Feb. 20, defence lawyer Jessie Buydens confirmed.
His Saskatoon trial is still scheduled for April 28.
Sutherland, 45, is charged with manslaughter and unlawful confinement. He was arrested in 2022, along with eight others, after police received information that led to the discovery of Gallagher’s remains along the South Saskatchewan River near St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2022.
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The 30-year-old mother went missing on Sept. 20, 2020.
Sutherland was initially charged with aggravated assault, but was indicted on a manslaughter charge after Robert “Bobby” James Joseph Thomas’s preliminary hearing took place in 2023.
Thomas received a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 18 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in late 2024. Justice Daryl Labach ordered a publication ban on the entire sentencing hearing to ensure trial fairness.
At the time, four people were still awaiting their jury trials — Sutherland, Roderick William Sutherland, Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce and Summer-Sky Jodylynn Henry.
Brian Gallagher speaks to media outside King’s Bench Court in Saskatoon on February 6 2025 after the sentencing of Cheyann Peeteetuce and Summer Sky-Henry.Photo by Michael Joel-Hansen/Saskatoon St
After Thomas was sentenced, Peeteetuce and Henry re-elected to be tried by judge alone. Their joint first-degree murder trial began with pretrial motions in January, but the evidence was under an interim publication ban, once again to protect the upcoming jury trials.
After several in-camera (closed court) hearings, Peeteetuce and Henry pleaded guilty to manslaughter, ending the scheduled 39-day trial. They received seven-year prison terms.
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Justice Mona Dovell ordered a similar, sweeping publication ban on their sentencing hearings after rejecting a media lawyer’s arguments to drop the ban, citing that a “real and substantial risk to trial fairness” exists.
Sutherland’s re-election to a judge-alone trial came two weeks after the women’s sentencing hearing.
Roderick Sutherland, 47, is charged with first-degree murder. For now, his jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 6.
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