In closing remarks Monday, the Crown called the murder of Clayton Bear a crime of “jealousy and bravado.”
But defence lawyers representing Jordan Herron and Orren Johnson painted competing theories of the case, challenging the credibility of Crown witnesses and casting suspicion on each other’s clients.
Prosecutor Jeff Lubyk argued that Herron, one of the two men accused in the case, felt spurned after his girlfriend left to party with other men – including Bear.
“There was evidence,” Lubyk said, “that this upset Mr. Herron.”
The Crown held, based on testimony from several witnesses, that Herron followed her to the party, accompanied by co-accused Orren Johnson and a third man. But the three interlopers were driven away by a man wielding a knife, Lubyk told the court, and “were surprised and freaked out.”
The group fled, Lubyk argued, but the accused later returned. Orren Johnson, key witnesses claimed, was carrying a firearm.
“It is the Crown’s view that Mr. Herron and Mr. Johnson attended then, basically bringing a gun to a knife fight,” Lubyk said.
Herron’s lawyer, Mary McAuley, reminded the jury about the presumption of innocence, before drawing a different picture of what happened that night…
For more on this story, please see the Feb. 14 print or e-edition of the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
