A jury of six men and six women listened intently Thursday morning in Vernon Supreme Court as both sides made their final submissions at Howard Krewson’s second degree murder trial.
Krewson is charged in connection with the shooting death of his girlfriend Linda Stewart, also known as Linda Ross.
The question before the jury is not whether Krewson killed the 51-year-old school teacher but whether he intended to do so.
Stewart was shot in a vehicle on her Lumby area property in June 2014.
Defense counsel admits it was Krewson who pulled the trigger.
However on Thursday, Krewson’s lawyer, Donna Turko, argued he should be found guilty of manslaughter not murder.
Turko painted a picture for the jury of a man acting bizarrely and too intoxicated to form the necessary intent to kill for a murder conviction.
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Crown counsel argued Krewson was less intoxicated than his lawyer contends and that he was able to form the intent to kill.
The prosecutor theory of events is that Krewson shot Stewart at close range while she was trying to leave in a vehicle.
Crown counsel, Shirley Meldrum, brought up evidence that Stewart was on the phone with a friend as the situation unfolded.
Meldrum pointed to evidence that Stewart said, “Oh god. He has got a gun,” and, “He is going to shoot me,” before the friend heard the window implode.
“He would have know the power of that handgun and he would have known that if he shot Miss Stewart at close range, that he was going to kill her,” said Meldrum.
“He shot into the vehicle twice. We say that Mr. Krewson had the capacity, he had the requisite intent to shoot into the vehicle and he intended to kill Miss Stewart.”
Defense argued the two shots are further proof that Krewson wasn’t in his right mind because Turko said one of the bullets missed Stewart.
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“Mr. Krewson appears to be somebody who is familiar with guns and would be able to shoot the gun so it would be surprising, unless his mind was not functioning, that he would miss with the second bullet in such close range,” said Turko.
It will be up to the jury to decide where the truth lies.
The case will be back in court Friday morning. The judge is expected to provide his charge to the jury before they begin their deliberations.