Jurors in a Cayuga, Ont., courtroom heard Tuesday from a Crown prosecutor that Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Sperry collaborated to ambush and kill Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala in December 2022.
In his closing assertion on Wednesday, Stewart-Sperry’s lawyer, Scott Reid, mentioned believing the Crown’s narrative past an inexpensive doubt requires “tunnel imaginative and prescient.”
Reid instructed the Superior Court docket trial his consumer made dangerous decisions, however these do not make her a assassin or a killer, and added that the shooter “used Brandi as a protect, unwittingly.”
“This can be a case about Randall, not Brandi. She’s simply alongside for the journey.”
McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry are charged with first-degree homicide within the taking pictures dying of Pierzchala, 28. Each have pleaded not responsible. The trial started March 27.
Stewart-Sperry has admitted to being current in the course of the taking pictures — which was captured by Pierzchala’s bodycam. McKenzie doesn’t.
The Crown alleges the three got here into contact when the co-accused stole a automotive from Hamilton and crashed it in a ditch close to Hagersville. After making an attempt to get assist from passersby to go away the scene, McKenzie and Stewart-Sperry, who have been boyfriend and girlfriend, had two decisions when a police officer arrived, Crown lawyer Fraser McCracken mentioned Tuesday. They might give up or “remove the risk.”
Stewart-Sperry tried to distract Pierzchala and conceal McKenzie from view whereas he readied a handgun contained in the pocket of his hoodie and fatally shot the officer, McCracken mentioned.
On Tuesday, McKenzie’s lawyer, Douglas Holt, argued there’s affordable doubt as as to if McKenzie was the shooter captured on video.
‘Nothing greater than hypothesis and conjecture’
Reid mentioned the shooter, regardless of who it was, is a “coward” who “minimize down a courageous younger officer” within the prime of his life.
Stewart-Sperry fled the scene of the crime with that shooter in one other stolen car, Reid mentioned, however the decisions she made later have been extra comprehensible than the Crown prosecutor has advised.
In reality, Reid argued, proof in opposition to Stewart-Sperry is “nothing greater than hypothesis and conjecture.”
Over the course of a pair hours, Reid contradicted a number of components of the Crown’s case.
McCracken mentioned Tuesday that Stewart-Sperry was seemingly intoxicated in the course of the taking pictures, however by fleeing and trying to cover and restore their stolen getaway car, she confirmed she knew what she was doing.
On Wednesday, Reid countered she was not in her proper thoughts, noting that witnesses who noticed her previous to the taking pictures described her utilizing phrases akin to “excessive as a kite” and recounted her appearing irrationally.
Reid additionally offered an alternate tackle the bodycam video through which the shooter is seen opening hearth on Pierzchala whereas Stewart-Sperry stands subsequent to the gunman.
McCracken mentioned the video reveals Stewart-Sperry offering cowl for the shooter, however Reid mentioned it seems to be as if the gunman is readying to fireplace earlier than his consumer reacts. He mentioned she appeared to react to the taking pictures extra slowly than the witness captured on video as a result of she was intoxicated.
Actions after taking pictures not indicative of guilt: defence
As for why his consumer fled the scene, Reid requested the jurors to place themselves in her sneakers and keep away from making assumptions about how somebody ought to act throughout a traumatic scenario.
“I hope and pray none of you discover yourselves within the scenario Brandi was in that day,” he mentioned, as Stewart-Sperry sat crying.
Reid mentioned Stewart-Sperry might need fled with a person who had simply shot down a police officer as a result of she was afraid of being left alone, panicked and confused, in love or perhaps afraid he would possibly damage her or her household if she did not associate with him.
He added there isn’t a proof Stewart-Sperry knew McKenzie had texted individuals about “taking pictures out with the cops,” because the jury has heard, and mentioned texts between McKenzie and her mom point out the co-accused have been aside for about two weeks in December. Reid mentioned it is affordable to assume the 2 might not have identified one another all that effectively and she or he won’t have identified he had a gun.
Jury deliberations set to start Thursday
After Reid’s closing, Superior Court docket Justice Andrew Goodman started instructing the jury on the authorized points they might want to take into account throughout their deliberations.
He’s scheduled to proceed his cost to the jury on Thursday morning, after which deliberations will start.
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