Killer guilty of lesser charge

The mother of an 18-year-old man killed during a meat cleaver attack by his friend, burst into tears and ran from a Calgary courtroom Thursday when he was found not guilty of second-degree murder.  [the mother], angered that her son’s killer was convicted of a lesser charge of manslaughter, could be heard sobbing in the hallway outside the Court of Queen’s Bench courtroom.

“My son is gone. Where’s the justice?” [she] yelled.

It took jurors three days to render a verdict n the case.
[the accused] pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge, claiming he acted in self-defence when he was confronted last year by [the victim],18, in his bedroom and killed him with a meat cleaver.

The jury of eight men and four women instead convicted him of manslaughter.  Outside the courtroom, a brief confrontation between several of [the victim]’s friends and [the accused]’s lawyers, David Chow and Patrick Fagan, forced court sheriffs to step in.  Thursday‘s verdict ends a nearly month-long trial where jurors heard [the accused] and [the victim] spent the evening of the killing drinking and snorting cocaine.  In a videotaped interview with police, [the accused] insisted he was acting in self-defence when he killed [the victim] on Oct. 12. [the accused] said he and [the victim] had an argument over drug money earlier in the night.     The accused said he went home and watched a movie, then walked to his mother’s home two doors down to get some milk. He returned home and was surprised by [the victim], his friend since high school, wielding a weapon. 

The pair struggled and [the accused] turned the cleaver on [the victim], inflicting 56 wounds. [the victim] bled to death.    
[the accused] has been remanded into custody until sentencing arguments scheduled for Sept.

2006
Calgary Herald
By: Emma Poole