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The man accused of killing Chris Ausman on a Rutland sidewalk in 2014 was high on heroin when police arrested him almost three years after the killing.
The video of the first of four interrogation sessions of Steven Pirko was played in Kelowna court Friday afternoon, on the eighth day of evidence submissions in the second-degree murder trial.
Pirko was arrested Nov. 18, 2016, and brought to the Kelowna RCMP detachment.
Starting that night, and carrying through the following day, Pirko had four separate interviews with Sgt. Eric Boucher, the first two lasting just under two hours, the third taking two hours and 40 minutes, and the last wrapping up after just 35 minutes.
In his opening statement to the jury last week, Crown prosecutor David Grabavac said Pirko confessed to killing Ausman during his interrogation.
Soon after their introduction, Pirko admits to Boucher that he is addicted to heroin, and has been using “two or three points a day,” referring to 0.2 to 0.3 grams.
“I need two points just to f***ing wake up in the morning ... I was pretty f***ing high when you guys picked me up,” he tells Boucher.
Pirko's speech is slow in the video, and he frequently yawns.
The officer works to build a rapport with Pirko during the first hour of their conversation, telling him on several occasions that he'll be honest and open-minded with him. Boucher tells him he'll let him take a smoke break at some point, but when Pirko says he'd like to go back to his cell after about 30 minutes, Boucher refuses.
The officer goes on to tell Pirko that “a lot of men and women did a lot of work” investigating Ausman's death over the prior 34 months, and that the RCMP will keep an unsolved murder file open forever.
Thursday, the jury learned Pirko began to feel “dope sick” the next morning, and threw up during a smoke break that morning.
While it's unclear when he confessed to the killing, Pirko's mother was brought into the interview room during the fourth session on the night of Nov. 19, although it's unknown for what purpose.
The trial, scheduled for five weeks, is expected to continue Monday.
