The lawsuit asks the court of appeal to order a new trial for the septuagenarian who shot his neighbor with a discharge from a 12-caliber weapon in the Laurentians in October 2020.
· Read also: Murder in Brownsburg-Chatham: 78-year-old man who shot his neighbor faces 15 years in prison
· Read also: Murder in Brownsburg-Chatham: Kirby is acquitted of premeditated murder, but found guilty of the manslaughter of his neighbor
At the end of his recent trial which lasted more than a month, Howard Charles Kirby, 78, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter following the violent death of Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan, 62.
Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan, here surrounded by three of her five children. On the left, her daughter Kelly Flynn and, on her right, her daughters Crystal Finnigan and Katie Flynn.
Courtesy of the victim’s family
However, the prosecution instead demanded a verdict of premeditated murder for the crime committed on October 14, 2020.
During the trial, jurors were shown video from a surveillance camera in which Kirby could be seen shooting his neighbor whom he hated.
According to the shooter’s interrogation, he “snapped” and lost control in the seconds before his discharge, which caused more than 140 punctures to the victim’s body.
Provocation
The two neighbors had in fact maintained a conflictual relationship for around ten years, to the point where the victim said she feared her murderer. She had cameras installed around her residence and this is how the fatal attack was filmed, which allowed the police to quickly identify a suspect.
In his notice of appeal, prosecutor Me Alexandre Dubois asks the court of appeal to force a new trial, because judge Pierre Labrie would have erred in law by concluding that the defense of provocation was plausible, by explaining to the jury the notion of insult of nature to deprive an ordinary person of the power of self-control and the notion of suddenness of the defense of provocation.
Me Dubois therefore calls for the annulment of the verdict of involuntary manslaughter and the holding of a new trial before another jury.
In addition, Kirby is due to be sentenced at the end of the month.