Mr. Whitmore had met both Gary Allen and Hughie MacDonald in Kent Institution. On the morning Mr. Allen was released into the population from segregation, Mr. Whitmore was living in A unit. Mr. Allen had been released to B unit. Mr. Allen approached Mr. Whitmore at the door which separates A and B units and asked him for a knife. Mr. Whitmore "sloughed him off." He had heard there were bad feelings between Mr. Allen and Mr. MacDonald and that Allen was going to kill Mr. MacDonald. Ten minutes later Mr. Allen told Mr. Whitmore he had obtained a knife from someone else. Mr. Whitmore said that he went to talk to Mr. Tremblay, the chairman of the Inmate Committee: "I was really pissed off because this great big guy was going to take out this old man." Following that, Mr. Whitmore went to the dining room where Hughie MacDonald was having his lunch, related what had transpired between him and Mr. Allen, and asked Mr. MacDonald what he was going to do. Mr. MacDonald said he was going to suggest to Mr. Allen that they settle it in the gym that night. Mr. Whitmore asked Mr. MacDonald whether he needed some help; Mr. MacDonald declined his offer.

Mr. Whitmore's evidence ended the day on a dramatic note. His examination-in-chief finished at 4:00 p.m. and Crown counsel indicated that he would need at least twenty minutes, perhaps half an hour, for cross-examination. Since the judge had promised the jury that he would accommodate one juror's problems with daycare by not sitting much beyond 4:00 p.m., he adjourned the day's hearing. Mr. Whitmore got visibly upset, urging that the cross-examination be completed that day because "I'm sitting downstairs in one of those fucking animal cages and I don't want to have to come back again." The sharpness of Mr. Whitmore's tone and the sudden rise in the volume of his voice caused both the court reporter and the court clerk to freeze. The sheriffs braced themselves, but the incident was over in a moment, and counsel explained to Mr. Whitmore that he would be back on the stand first thing next morning and therefore would not have to wait very long downstairs. Mr. Whitmore completed his cross-examination the next day, maintaining his soft-spoken answers as a counterpoint to the physical tension he generated.

The next witness was Shawn Preddy. Mr. Preddy's first federal sentence was in 1986, when he received 7 years for three robberies and possession of weapons. After being released straight to the street from Kent's segregation unit, he had been rearrested and had been brought to court today from the Kamloops provincial jail, where he was awaiting trial on new charges of robbery and assault. In describing Hughie MacDonald's reputation Mr. Preddy testified, "He's an older convict who does his own time and doesn't get in anyone else's face." As to Gary Allen, "he was regarded as a dangerous man, very aggressive, intimidating, who muscled other prisoners for drugs or whatever else he wanted." Mr. Preddy described Kent as a "cliquey" institution in which prisoners formed partnerships for reasons of both friendship and survival.

Kent is a very dangerous place and having partners is part of surviving. Living in such a place you are putting your life in your partner's hands on a regular basis. For example, when you're taking a shower and you've got shampoo all over your hair, you can't see. One of your enemies can just pull the shower curtain aside and plunge you with a blade. Your partner is there to make sure that doesn't happen. Your partner is someone who will take your life into their hands and hold it dearly.

Shawn Preddy related how Gary Allen, when he came into the institution in 1992, quickly formed a partnership with Wayne Bellegarde. "Bellegarde is also a big man who liked to think of himself as dangerous, but when push came to shove he always backed down." However, when Mr. Allen and Mr. Bellegarde teamed up, Mr. Bellegarde's worst characteristics came out. The two of them were constantly muscling prisoners for drugs, canteen, deodorant (which could be used in making home brew, by squeezing the deodorant stick for its alcohol content), or anything else they could use to get high. Mr. Preddy described how this muscling activity, bitterly resented by most prisoners, led to a major incident. It had started one evening when Mr. Bellegarde told Mike Tyson, Shawn Preddy's partner, that he could not play floor hockey in the gym. Mr. Preddy confronted Mr. Bellegarde and told him that Mr. Tyson was going to play: "Bellegarde backed down and Mike had his game." Several weeks later, Mr. Preddy was going out to the yard on a Saturday morning and had just entered what he described as a "blind spot," meaning a place which could not be seen from either of the two adjacent guard towers. As he walked through the door he saw Gary Allen and Wayne Bellegarde sitting at a table. As Mr. Preddy got closer, Mr. Bellegarde moved to block access to the yard and Mr. Allen circled around behind him. Both drew knives. Mr. Preddy was not armed, and Mr. Bellegarde berated him for what had happened in the gym. With knives being flashed in his face, Mr. Preddy was forced to back down and give Mr. Bellegarde an apology. Shawn Preddy testified, "It was a very dangerous situation. I thought I was going to die that day."

Mr. Preddy described how the activities of Mr. Allen and Mr. Bellegarde continued to escalate. To Mr. Preddy and his friends this behaviour constituted outlaw behaviour even in a society of outlaws. He testified that he had a reputation as someone who would stand up against wrongdoing by the administration or among the prisoners. "I'm a bit of a policeman within our own society." This prison policeman role was played out in 1992 when Shawn Preddy, Mike Tyson and a few other prisoners decided that they were tired of the predatory behaviour of Gary Allen and Wayne Bellegarde. They invited them to come to a meeting in the gym. The purpose of the meeting was to present Mr. Allen and Mr. Bellegarde with two options: to leave the population, meaning that they should ask to go to the hole, or to face the wrath of the whole institution. Mr. Preddy testified that, knowing Gary Allen, it was not likely he would go for this first option, and therefore Mr. Preddy and his friends would probably have to "take these guys out" -- to kill them.

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