Not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter was the verdict this afternoon from a jury deciding the fate of 33 year old Stuart Sutherland in the Supreme Court. Sutherland was charged with murder for fatally shooting Gary Gabourel in March of 2007 in Willow’s Bank.
His common-law wife Topaz Smith says she saw when Sutherland shot Gabourel with his 16 gauge shot gun. Sutherland says the shooting was in self-defense because Gabourel had kicked him and accused him of burglary. He says he shot Gabourel when he saw him leaning into his car as if he was pulling out a weapon.
The jury of 7 women and 5 men was unable to reach a unanimous verdict and so justice Michelle Arana instructed the jurors to consider the charge of manslaughter. They then returned from deliberations with a guilty verdict for murder. But they were sent back again because they had already been instructed to consider only the charge of manslaughter. They returned with a guilty verdict a short while later.
Stuart Sutherland will be sentenced on October 27th. He was defended by Michael Peyrefitte. Crown Counsel Cecil Ramirez was the prosecutor.
