But Semrau himself said no such thing. The Moose Jaw, Sask., native uttered only two words during the court martial—“Not guilty”—and his lawyer, Maj. Steve Turner, stuck to a consistent strategy: attack every witness, and sow the seeds of reasonable doubt. For the most part, the tactic worked.
Prosecutors told the panel that Semrau subscribed to a so-called “soldier’s pact,” an unwritten code that says if one warrior is mortally wounded, it’s up to another to end his suffering. But even with the testimony of numerous witnesses who said they either heard him fire the shots or listened to him confess afterwards, the jury was not fully convinced that Semrau’s bullets actually caused that man to die. There was, after all, no corpse and no autopsy report. To this day, even the name of the “victim” remains unknown.
So the panel, it seems, settled on middle ground. As Semrau stood at attention, his face showing no emotion, the jury foreman declared him not guilty on the first three counts, but guilty on the fourth: disgraceful conduct. A life term is now out of the equation, but jail remains a very real possibility, as the charge carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.
“Either way, he doesn’t have any career in the army left,” Granatstein says. “It is ruined. He will be a civilian, but the only question is whether he’ll do jail time first.”
Neither side claimed victory after the verdict. The military brass wanted a murder conviction, anxious to send a stern message that any talk of a “soldier’s pact” is strictly forbidden. Still, for the first time, a Canadian soldier has been found guilty of shooting a wounded enemy fighter—a precedent that should deter others from ever doing the same. “We proved the fact that he shot a wounded and unarmed man beyond a reasonable doubt,” Lt.-Col. Mario Léveillée, the lead prosecutor, said after the decision. “[But] one of the elements to prove murder in the second degree is that the individual died as a result, and they may have had a reasonable doubt about this.”
Bill Semrau, Robert’s older brother, spoke on behalf of the family. He urged Canadians to join the Facebook site (Support the Freedom of Capt. Robert Semrau) and thanked everyone who has sent cards, prayers and other words of support. “We are disappointed,” he said. “We’ve always believed that he did nothing wrong and we’ve hoped that the military panel would find the same thing.”
The captain and his wife, Amélie Lapierre-Semrau, left the courtroom hand in hand, walking past a throng of reporters and flashing cameras without saying a word. On July 26, Semrau’s scheduled date for sentencing, they will find out whether his next exit from the building will be in handcuffs.
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