Even though he shot his neighbor with a .12 caliber discharge during an outburst captured by a surveillance camera, a septuagenarian managed to convince a jury that his action was not premeditated.
“Not guilty of first degree murder, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter,” ruled one of the members of the jury made up of 12 citizens, Friday noon, at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse. They had been sequestered since last Tuesday evening for their deliberations.
The accused, Howard Charles Kirby, was the subject of a long trial lasting a month and a half, he who killed his immediate neighbor Bonnie-Lyn Finnigan, aged 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
The latter resided in a modest house on Chemin Édina until October 14, 2020.
A fatal shot
That day, she was shot on her property with a 12-gauge gunshot, which left as many as 140 holes in her body.
The scene was captured by cameras installed on her house, because she said she feared her neighbor.
In the images, we see the accused firing a fatal discharge in the direction of his victim.
At the time, the two neighbors had been in conflict for around ten years.
One of the main issues in this quarrel turned out to be the delimitation of their land, and the branches that Mme Finnigan allegedly cut down trees that did not belong to him.
Provocation
This is also what would have provoked the shooter in the minutes preceding the tragedy, in the middle of the afternoon, argued the defense. Kirby would not have premeditated his action, she insisted.
During interrogation, the septuagenarian had simply mentioned “breaking down” when he took his weapon and fired in the direction of his target.
The jurors, in all likelihood, leaned in favor of this argument by acquitting him of premeditated murder.
“If we rely on the directives and the decision tree, only one path allowed the verdict to be rendered. So, probably there was not proof beyond all doubt of the intention to kill. But it is also possible that the defense of provocation contributed,” said Mr.e Maxime Chevalier, Kirby’s lawyer, just a few minutes after the decision.
“We are obviously satisfied,” he continued. It seems that the jury recognized certain human weaknesses which led to this tragedy.”
Me Maxime Chevalier, for the defense
Archive photo, Martin Alarie
On appeal?
For its part, the prosecution said it was surprised by the judgment.
“We are certainly disappointed, it is not necessarily the verdict we expected,” commented Mr. Jonathan Rabchuk, one of the Crown prosecutors in the case. On the other hand, we have enormous respect for the work of the jury and the process.”
“At this point, our thoughts are really with the plaintiff’s loved ones,” he said, adding that the prosecution would evaluate the possibility of appealing the verdict.
Observations on the sentence will nevertheless take place next Wednesday.