Keith Napope not guilty of manslaughter in death of Johnathan Keenatch-Lafond

After close to three days of deliberations, a jury has found Keith Napope, 31, guilty of robbery but not guilty of manslaughter in the death of Johnathan Keenatch-Lafond.

Napope was accused of taking part in a drug robbery at a 20th Street apartment complex in November 2014 that left Keenatch-Lafond stabbed to death.

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“We’re just really happy for him,” Devon Napope, Keith’s younger brother, said after the verdict was read.

“I’ve been sitting here all day and night waiting for him, because I didn’t want him sitting alone, and I’m really happy for him.”

The family maintained Napope’s innocence in the case, despite being found guilty of robbery.

“That’s the part we’ll never know about with the jury,” Napope said.

“The battle is mostly won already, he’s innocent, we know that for a fact.”

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While Napope’s family quietly celebrated when the verdict was read, they admitted the trial has been stressful for them.

With two years already served in remand, Napope now faces significantly less time behind bars.

“I don’t see many cases involving robbery where we’re seeing double digits,” Brian Pfefferle, Napope’s lawyer, said.

“Essentially the maximum sentence we see for robbery is typically the minimum for the type of manslaughter charge that he was facing, so it changes the game.”

Over the week of testimony, the jury heard the victim was running a small drug operation out of the apartment he shared with his 95-year-old father. According to testimony, four to five masked men broke in when the victim’s nephew, Tyrone Lafond, opened the back door of the complex to let somebody in.

Tyrone Lafond testified to court that he saw two men armed with knives during the break-in. He told court one of the men was armed with two knives and stabbed his uncle in the leg before fleeing with money and drugs.

Lafond said he couldn’t see that intruders face, but he could see the face of the second intruder who was armed with a knife when he pulled his mask down. Lafond claimed he saw that man again months later at a Tim Hortons at St. Paul’s Hospital and identified him as Keith Napope.

During final arguments, the defense called Lafond’s testimony into question, claiming he lied on the stand due to inconsistencies. The jury did ask to re-listen to Lafond’s testimony on the second day of deliberations.

“Obviously we made a significant issue of that testimony and I’m sure the jury assessed it critically,” Pfefferle said.  “Whether that led to the acquittal on the manslaughter, it’s hard to say, we’ll never know.”

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Napope’s DNA was found in the apartment complex and on the victims shirt, but Napope denied involvement in the robbery.  While on the stand, Napope claimed that he was robbed by two masked men just days before the drug robbery and recognized one of the masks as the same one that was found on the victim.

“Upon our review of their verdict, they must have found that he did commit the robbery against Johnathan Keenatch,”  Bryce Pashovitz, the Crown prosecutor said.

“The way we see the the evidence, the only way that he could have been found guilty of that was to have him in the suite on the night of the incident.”

The defence says Napope is relieved and they will begin to digest the verdict to decide their position on a consequence they believe is fair for Napope.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 13.