Brothers accused in Calgary teen's murder were suffering the effects of bear spray shortly after the killing, court told
Client: Under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the younger accused can’t be identified.
Charge: Second Degree Murder
Defence: Submissions will be pushed to the fall at the earliest and could even push them to the end of the year.
The Moments after allegedly murdering a bear-sprayed Calgary teen, two brothers arrived home with the irritant in their eyes, court heard Thursday.
In an agreed statement drafted to avoid forcing the brothers’ father taking the witness stand, Crown prosecutor Vicki Faulkner said the accused killers went to the Copperfield residence they shared with their parents.
“On Sept. 5, 2023, at approximately 7:45 p.m. (the brothers) came home,” Faulkner said, reading from a statement agreed to by defence lawyer Alain Hepner and his client.
“They had bear spray in their eyes and were shouting. (The brothers) washed the bear spray off and left the house again.”
Before the facts were read in, court took a long adjournment so the accused killers’ parents could consult with an independent counsel.
Faulkner had subpoenaed both parents to testify, but agreed to an admission being read in.
Hepner told Justice Eleanor Funk he had cleared the admissions with the parents, which spared both of them the possibility of testifying at the youth court trial of one of the two sons.
“I had duty counsel independently speak to (the father) and the mother,” Hepner said.
Faulkner closed her case with those brief admissions.
Hepner then read in a brief statement of admitted facts as the only evidence for the defence.
In the exhibit, the lawyer cited a police statement given by a 12-year-old witness to the killing of Calgary teen Danillo Canales Glenn.
The boy, who can’t be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act prohibiting naming witnesses who haven’t reached adulthood, told a Calgary police detective the individual who stabbed Canales Glenn was wearing a grey hoody.
Witnesses have previously testified two males with hoods over their heads jumped the boards at the outdoor rink at the Copperfield/Mahogany Community Centre where the deceased and two friends were shooting baskets and pepper sprayed them.
Canales Glenn, 18, was then stabbed in the heart by one of the assailants.
Hepner’s client, who is a youth and can’t be identified, is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing.
The now 17-year-old and his adult brother were charged separately. The brother, who can’t be named to protect Hepner’s client’s identity, is being prosecuted in adult court.
Evidence led by Faulkner and co-prosecutor Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik suggests the youth was wearing a dark blue or black hoody, while his brother was wearing a grey one.
“The guy with the knife, do you remember what he was wearing?” the detective who interviewed the young witness, who was playing nearby, asked during a Sept. 7, statement.
“He was wearing a grey Nike sweater.”
At Hepner’s request, Funk will receive written submissions before the lawyers make oral arguments in the case.
That will push submissions into the fall at the earliest and could even push them to the end of the year.
“I’d like to get this done before Christmas,” Funk said.
Source: The Calgary Herald