Twelve jurors in a Moncton murder trial began deliberating Thursday afternoon after a judge instructed them on three potential verdicts: Not guilty, guilty of second-degree murder, or guilty of manslaughter.
Riley Phillips, 20, is being tried on a second-degree murder charge. It’s alleged he killed Joedin Leger, 18, in Moncton on April 25, 2022.
The jury heard from 27 witnesses during the trial, which began Sept. 23. Phillips testified in his own defence, telling jurors he shot Leger that morning, but Leger shot him first.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Robert Dysart finished reading his instructions on the evidence and applicable law to the jury Thursday around 3:30 p.m., followed at 4 p.m. by the start of deliberations.
“You, not I, decide what happened in this case,” Dysart said, during his instructions that ran about 130 pages.
Dysart outlined what the 12 jurors need to consider to accept the self-defence argument put forward by Phillips.
Self-defence, under section 34 of the Criminal Code of Canada, can result in a not-guilty verdict if there’s a reasonable belief that a force or threat was being used against the accused by another person, that the accused acted to defend themselves from that force or threat, and the accused’s action was reasonable in the circumstances.
Dysart said that if jurors have a reasonable doubt that his conduct was reasonable, then he was acting in self-defence “and has committed no crime. You must find Riley Phillips not guilty of second-degree murder.”
Joedin Leger was 18 when he was shot and killed in Moncton on April 25, 2022. (Albert County Funeral Home)
The Crown, in its closing arguments, told the jury that Phillips’s actions that morning mean self-defence wouldn’t apply. Prosecutor Stephen Holt told jurors the Crown’s view is that Phillips had the required intent for murder when he aimed a revolver at Leger and fired multiple times.
A not-guilty verdict can also result if the jury doesn’t accept self-defence and finds the Crown hasn’t proven him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
If the jury concludes Phillips didn’t have the required intent for murder, Dysart said they can find him guilty of manslaughter. Manslaughter is a homicide that’s generally unplanned.
Jurors heard evidence from Crown witnesses that Leger’s death happened in the context of a home invasion and robbery targeting Leger and his girlfriend, who had marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash, that was carried out with five others.
Brothers Hunter and Jerek England stayed in a borrowed Honda Civic, while Hayden Leblanc, Nicholas McAvoy and a 17-year-old who cannot be named went up to Leger’s duplex. However, the jury heard only Phillips entered Leger’s Logan Lane home dressed in black, wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet, just after 6 that morning.
Phillips testified he fired the revolver several times after Leger shot his right hand. (Shane Magee/CBC)
In the defence’s version, Phillips went to Logan Lane with the group over a dispute about Leger smashing Hunter England’s mother’s windows.
What followed at the home is the subject of dispute that jurors will have to sort out to reach their verdict.
The Crown’s key witness was the 17-year-old, now 20, who testified Phillips was handed a loaded revolver en route to Logan Lane, that he heard Phillips enter the home followed almost immediately by gunshots. The witness testified he looked in the front door to see Phillips jump down the stairs from the kitchen area and run back to the waiting Civic.
“‘The f–ker shot me. But it’s OK, I put four in him,’ something along those lines,” the witness recalled Phillips saying.
Surveillance video captured the sound of five shots, followed by showing four people running back to the waiting vehicle.
WATCH | Video captures sound of apparent gunshots:
In Phillips’s version, he knocked on the front door and Leger opened it and walked up the stairs to the kitchen area but had no conversation.
While Phillips was a couple steps up, he testified Leger reached for a gun and pointed it toward him. Phillips said in that moment he reached for a revolver in his waistband under a sweater. Phillips said Leger shot him and then Phillips shot him once in the leg.
Phillips testified he saw Leger turn toward a table and reach for another gun, so he fired several more times before fleeing.
Both the Crown and defence argued the jury should accept their version, with both arguing the jury cannot believe testimony of the 17-year-old or Phillips.