The lawyer for Colten Boushie’s family, who has been attending the trial of Gerald Stanley, accused of the young man’s murder, spoke with reporters today, saying the jury, now in its second day of deliberation, is doing its job.
“It’s very apparent the jury is taking their oath very seriously and it appears as though they are focusing on the testimony of Gerald Stanley in which he indicated he was in pure terror and ran to the front of the vehicle versus the testimony of his son that indicated he saw Mr. Stanley walking alongside the vehicle, and that’s an important piece of evidence…” said Chris Murphy, a Toronto-based lawyer.
He said the jury has been reviewing the evidence, “…and frankly whatever verdict the jury comes up with in this case I believe … it will be a reasonable verdict.”
The jury is doing its job and that’s all any citizen of Canada can ask, said Murphy.
He wouldn’t speculate, however, on how the family would react to a manslaughter verdict.
The jury’s deliberations began late Thursday following a lengthy charge to the jury from Chief Justice Martel Popescul during the afternoon. The charge included lengthy instructions on such things as the Crown’s burden of proof, reasonable doubt, how to assess the credibility of witnesses, instructions on evidence, the definition of culpable homicide, and instructions on the elements of the offence.
A verdict of guilty of manslaughter is one of the three options put to the jury by Chief Justice Popescul. The others are a finding of not guilty or a finding of guilty of second-degree murder.
Stanley is charged with the second-degree murder of Colten Boushie, a passenger in a grey Ford Escape vehicle, who was shot and killed on Stanley’s property in the RM of Glenside on Aug. 9, 2016.
