Closing arguments wrap in Shawn Douglas murder trial

The men accused of killing Shawn Douglas pointed the finger at each other in the courtroom on Monday.

During closing arguments, Crown prosecutor James Fitz-Gerald said 54-year-old Shawn Douglas was robbed, thrown in the trunk of a car and taken to the bush where he was zip-tied and beaten with a sledgehammer.

Johnathon Peepeetch, Joshua Wilson and Dennis Thompson were all involved in the killing, he said.

Fitz-Gerald referred to witness testimony as he recapped how accused killer Peepeetch allegedly told Douglas he was going to die, and then struck him in the face with a sledgehammer. Douglas ultimately died from blunt force trauma.

At one point, Peepeetch interrupted the Crown’s closing arguments to ask the judge if the Crown was allowed to lie about evidence being submitted to the jury, prompting a short recess before the Crown continued.

Fitz-Gerald said Peepeetch, Joshua Wilson and Dennis Thompson all had time to stop Douglas’s death but did nothing. It didn’t matter who struck that fatal blow, he said, they should all be found guilty of first-degree murder.

Wilson’s defence lawyer, Kevin Hill, called Peepeetch the driving force behind the killing. “Peepeetch’s actions were his and his alone,” he said.

Hill said the evidence against his own client was grossly inadequate. Evidence of intent was absent, so a murder conviction couldn’t follow, he added.

Hill also said Wilson was the first to leave the scene, which would be consistent with somebody who was freaked out or surprised by what happened

Meanwhile, Peepeetch’s lawyer, Lori Johnstone-Clarke, asked the jury to find Wilson guilty of robbery and murder.

She also said the problem with the Crown’s story is it requires the jury to believe two strikers with the Native Syndicate gang who might have a motive to lie. Peepeetch was not a gang member at the time of the Douglas murder, she said.

“He can be disposed of, no longer protected. He turned his back on his bros. Don’t let the Native Syndicate use you for their retribution,” she told the jury.

Thompson’s lawyer, Kathy Hodgson-Smith, said the Native syndicate gang is the reason Thompson is sitting in the box today.

“It has its own justice…it makes a mockery of this institution.”

She said if the jury believes the testimony of non-gang members, it would mean her client should be found not guilty.

The victim’s DNA wasn’t found on her client, and Thompson wasn’t a member of the gang, she added.

One juror was dismissed before the closing arguments wrapped up.

The judge will charge the 12-person jury Tuesday morning, and they will then be sequestered until they reach a verdict.