Accused of murdering his neighbor by shooting her in the back, Howard Charles Kirby, 78, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter following jury deliberations Friday at the Saint -Jerome.
The man from Brownsburg-Chatham, near Lachute, in the Laurentians, was accused of the first degree murder of his 62-year-old neighbor, Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan, on October 14, 2020, in the middle of the afternoon.
According to the facts admitted by the parties, Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan died from a single gunshot to the back, a scene filmed since the victim had installed surveillance cameras on her residence.
A friend who had probably arrived at the precise moment when Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan was allegedly killed by her vengeful neighbor had notably testified for the prosecution.
According to the Crown prosecutor’s theory, Me Steve D. Fontaine, presented during his opening statement to the jury, the accused had decided that day “to satisfy his grudge against Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan” and was trying “to get away with it without consequences”.
The trial took place before judge Pierre Labrie.
With Louis-Samuel Perron, The Press