Cjay Hobbs, the man accused of driving the getaway car on May 26, 2020, when 21-year-old Dimarjio Jenkins, also known as rapper Houdini, was fatally shot in front of the Bisha Hotel, has been found guilty of second-degree murder.
The jury deliberated for just over three hours before reaching their verdict Tuesday.
The jury heard that Hobbs rented a Volkswagen Tiguan using fake identification and drove to the Bisha hotel with an unnamed gunman to do a drug transaction that day, before shots began to fly around 4 p.m., sending pedestrians running.
Video surveillance shown at trial captured the chaos on Blue Jays Way south of King Street as a man sitting inside the Tiguan fired shots, and two people with Jenkins returned gunfire.
Homicide detectives have never arrested the gunman in the Tiguan, nor identified the suspect.
Crown prosecutors alleged that Hobbs knew the gunman was armed when they drove downtown with a kilogram of cocaine in the car and knew they were looking for Jenkins.
The jury was shown a message posted on Hobbs’ Snapchat account weeks before the murder. The song Murder for Hire played in the background, with the caption “sleep tight” on the post.
Prosecutors alleged the post was meant as a message for Jenkins.
Testifying in his own defence two weeks ago, Hobbs, 30, told the jury that his friend Jack Loor was the shooter. Loor was found dead in a vehicle near The Queensway and Windermere Avenue on April 28, 2022. He’d been fatally shot.
Hobbs said he didn’t know that Loor had a gun nor who they were expecting to be meeting that day. He testified he drove Loor to the entertainment district, to ensure he could split the profit right away.
During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Arian Khader questioned how Hobbs didn’t know who their buyer was.
“You get a message on May 26th saying the deal is going to happen but Jack doesn’t tell you anything about the buyer?” Khader said.
Hobbs replied, “It was Jack’s client. I wasn’t going to ask much questions.”
He told the jury he had been dealing drugs since the age of 17.
“You circled the Bisha for an hour and a half and you get none of the information?” Khader asked.
“We were just killing time,” said Hobbs, who testified they eventually parked facing the doors of the hotel so they could see “if he was coming.” He insisted he didn’t know who the buyer was.
Hobbs was on trial for first-degree murder. The Crown alleged the shooting was an assassination that they had planned. Shortly after the verdict was announced, Hobbs’ mother collapsed in the courtroom.
Second-degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence but the judge must decide on a period of parole ineligibility between 10 and 25 years.
Seven of the jurors made no recommendation for a period of parole ineligibility. Four jurors suggested a period of parole ineligibility of 15 years. One juror suggested a period of parole ineligibility of 25 years.
A sentencing hearing will be held in December.