Man Acquitted of First-Degree Murder in Gangland Execution | Hicks Adams LLP

In October of 2007, K.P. found himself in an unenviable position. He had been arrested by the Toronto Police Homicide Squad and charged with first-degree murder. It was alleged that K.P. had provided a gun to a person known as "Carl" and ordered him to kill O.R., a rival drug dealer in the Jane and Woolner area of Toronto. Within hours, O.R. was dead of a single gunshot wound to the head from a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. K.P.'s matter made its way through the court system and came to trial in June of 2009 before Mr. Justice Trafford, a veteran criminal trial judge who had presided over such notorious cases as the "Just Desserts" homicide. At trial, K.P. was represented by Victor Giourgas and Marco Sciarra. The trial lasted five weeks and the Crown's case included the evidence of not one but two eye-witnesses who testified that they knew K.P. and saw K.P. pass the gun to Carl and order the hit; phone records that showed calls from Carl's phone to K.P.'s phone before the murder; and video surveillance at the building where Carl lived and O.R. was shot showing K.P. arriving in the middle of the night shortly before the murder and leaving shortly after the murder. The Crown's case could fairly be described as a strong one. Defence counsel focused on neutralizing each one of these seemingly strong pieces of evidence. The two eye-witnesses were cross-examined relentlessly and at length and their testimony was exposed as both untruthful and unreliable. In fact, it was argued that the principal witness, rather than "Carl", may have in fact been the shooter, as he had a strong motive to kill the deceased. The phone records were shown to have only indicated calls from Carl's phone to K.P.'s phone and not actual discussions. Finally, there were actions captured on the surveillance video which were highlighted for the jury that contradicted the witnesses' version of events. K.P. did not testify and the defence did not call any evidence. The jury was sent out to deliberate on Friday, July 3, 2009 and returned with their verdict on Sunday, July 5, 2009. "Not Guilty" replied the foreperson when he was asked for the jury's unanimous verdict. After twenty months in custody, facing the most serious charge in the Criminal Code, K.P. was a free man. The result was in no small measure due to a very early decision K.P. made: to retain the services of Hicks Block Adams to represent him in this most serious matter.