Even though he shot his neighbor with a .12 caliber blast during an explosion captured by a surveillance camera, a septuagenarian managed to convince a jury that his act was not premeditated.
“Not guilty of first degree murder, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter,” ruled one of the members of the jury made up of 12 citizens, Friday noon, at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse. They had been sequestered since last Tuesday evening for their deliberations.
The accused, Howard Charles Kirby, was the subject of a long trial lasting a month and a half, he who killed his immediate neighbor Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan, aged 62.
Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan, here surrounded by three of her five children. On the left, her daughter Kelly Flynn and, on the right, her daughters Crystal Finnigan and Katie Flynn.
Courtesy of the victim’s family
The latter resided in a modest house on Chemin Édina until October 14, 2020.
A fatal blow
That day, she was shot on her property with a 12-gauge gunshot, which left up to 140 holes in her body.
The scene was captured by cameras installed on her house, because she said she feared her neighbor.
In the images, we see the accused firing a fatal shock towards his victim.
At the time, the two neighbors had been in conflict for around ten years.
One of the main issues in this dispute turned out to be the delimitation of their lands and the branches that MMe Finnigan allegedly cut down trees that did not belong to him.
Provocation
This is also what would have provoked the shooter in the minutes preceding the tragedy, in the middle of the afternoon, argued the defense. Kirby would not have premeditated his act, she insisted.
During his interrogation, the septuagenarian simply mentioned a “breakdown” when he took his weapon and fired in the direction of his target.
The jurors, in all likelihood, leaned in favor of this argument by acquitting him of the count of premeditated murder.
“Based on the guidelines and the decision tree, there was only one way to reach the verdict. So there was probably no indisputable proof of intent to kill. But it is also possible that the defense of provocation contributed,” Mr.e Maxime Chevalier, Kirby’s lawyer, just minutes after the decision.
“We are obviously satisfied,” he continued. It appears that the jury recognized certain human weaknesses that led to this tragedy. »
Me Maxime Chevalier, for the defense
Archive photo, Martin Alarie
On appeal?
For its part, the prosecution said it was surprised by the judgment.
“We are certainly disappointed, it is not necessarily the verdict we expected,” commented Mr. Jonathan Rabchuk, one of the Crown prosecutors in this case. On the other hand, we have enormous respect for the work of the jury and the process.
“At this point, our thoughts are really with the complainant’s loved ones,” he said, adding that the prosecution would evaluate the possibility of appealing the verdict.
Observations on the sentence will nevertheless take place next Wednesday.
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