The Role of Craig Melnyk

Caldwell's testimony continued this week with a discussion about Craig Melnyk. Melnyk was 17 years old when he and another friend were hanging out with David and his friends in a motel room. The news was on and there was a reference to Gail Miller's murder. David said something like, "Oh, yeah. I did that," and proceeded to mimic what might have happened that day. At least, that's the way Dave described the incident to me years ago when I asked him about it.

We have to remember that it was the sixties and all of the kids were high that night. Also, David was a very good-looking teenager. He was popular and liked to be the center of attention. He was a joker and all he was trying to do was to be FUNNY. One stoned kid at a party in a motel is not likely to anticipate that his black humor might come back to haunt him if his friends decide to gang up and accuse him of murder!

Melnyk had already been arrested and convicted of armed robbery at the time that he was brought in to testify at the Milgaard trial. Interestingly, he is thought to have received the shortest sentence for such a crime in the history of Regina. Coincidence? You tell me.

Read more about it at the Star Phoenix at http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=096f9130-dcd8-49ea-ab50-4130f6cec364

Sigrid Mac