Det. Paul Kelly was head of a crime scene investigation unit tasked with processing a homicide scene at 11119 94 Street, beginning Sept. 13, 2017. Blayne Burnstick was shot and killed in the basement of the home on Sept. 12, 2017, while Nexhmi Nuhi was shot in retaliation the following day. The initial search failed to locate Burnstick’s body. Postmedia, file
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An Edmonton city police detective is facing disciplinary charges related to the search of a homicide scene in which a man’s body went undiscovered for four days.
Det. Paul Kelly was head of a crime scene investigation unit tasked with processing a homicide scene at 11119 94 St., beginning Sept. 13, 2017.
That day, 76-year-old Nexhmi “Nick” Nuhi was shot through the door of his basement suite in retaliation for the death of Blayne Burnstick, who was shot and killed by another man in Nuhi’s suite the day prior.
Despite the police search, Burnstick’s concealed body was not discovered until Sept. 18, 2017, when the landlord returned to the property.
Kelly faces 14 charges of misconduct under the Police Act, a disciplinary filing released last month revealed.
The charges include five counts of neglect of duty for allegedly failing to conduct a proper crime scene investigation, eight counts of deceit and one count of discreditable conduct. Kelly has yet to enter pleas to the charges.
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His hearing, initially scheduled to start last month, is now set to begin Sept. 20.
In an email, lawyer Dan Scott said his client disputes the charges.
“Det. Kelly maintains that the initial crime scene was properly processed by his (crime scene investigation unit) team under the terms of the initial search warrant,” he said.
“It is troubling that EPS is pursuing deceit allegations — which he completely disputes — against a well-regarded detective based on a three-year-old conversation that two people remember differently.”
Burnstick, 25, was shot and killed in the basement suite of 11119 94 St. on Sept. 12, 2017. According to an agreed statement of facts filed in the case of Jared William Bird — a friend of Burnstick’s who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Nuhi’s death — Burnstick was shot while Bird and a man named Cecil Tompkins purchased drugs from Nuhi.
Tompkins and Bird believed Burnstick’s killing was a “set-up” orchestrated by Nuhi, who was shot with a shotgun through the door of the suite the following day.
Nexhmi (Nick) Nuhi lived in the basement of 11119 94 St. in Edmonton. He was shot through the outside basement door and died at the scene. Photo by Jonny Wakefield /Edmonton Journal
The man accused of shooting Burnstick — Edward Piche, the son of a woman who lived on the house’s main floor — goes to trial on murder charges Oct. 25. Tompkin’s murder trial for Nuhi’s death begins May 25.
According to the agreed facts in the Bird case, Burnstick’s body was concealed in a stairwell wrapped in garbage bags.
Kelly, then a sergeant, led the three-person crime scene unit that searched the house following the Nuhi shooting, on Sept. 13 and 14, 2017.
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The landlord discovered Burnstick’s remains after police released the scene. Burnstick’s family had reported him missing a few days prior.
On Sept. 19, 2017, a police inspector filed a complaint against Kelly alleging he conducted “a negligent crime scene investigation.” Kelly was eventually charged with a single count of neglect of duty.
‘Total denial of procedural fairness’
The following year, on Sept. 6, 2018, Kelly filed a complaint of his own, claiming members of the homicide unit withheld information from him about a second shooting at the house.
That complaint contributed to additional disciplinary charges against Kelly. The EPS Professional Standards Branch filed 13 additional counts against Kelly in August 2020.
The single count of discreditable conduct alleges Kelly made a “false complaint or statement against (a detective and a staff sergeant) alleging that they knew additional information about a potential shooting or homicide at the same scene he was investigating … and failed to communicate that information to him.”
Family circulated a poster on social media saying Blayne Burnstick was missing. Photo by Supplied
He is also accused of making eight false or misleading statements about the crime scene investigation and his subsequent complaint against the homicide officers. One of the counts alleges Kelly was deceitful “by indicating that he suggested holding the scene or expressed a desire to hold the scene for possible further investigations.”
Scott sought to have all but the three neglect of duty charges dismissed at a preliminary hearing, citing a failure to properly notify his client of the additional charges.
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He argued the failure was a “total denial of procedural fairness/natural justice.”
Fred Kamins, the retired RCMP officer presiding over the hearing, disagreed.
“I am satisfied that the investigation as I know it to this point, while not without bumps and bruises and not perfect, has nonetheless, met statutory requirements and fundamental procedural fairness,” Kamins wrote.
Scott said Kelly plans to appeal Kamins’ decision to the Law Enforcement Review Board.
Officers convicted of disciplinary offences can face losses in pay, rank or dismissal.
