A judge has found Mickell Clayton Bailey guilty of three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of three people at a rural home near Edson in November 2015.
The judge determined Bailey was guilty of shooting 36-year-old Roxanne Berube, 46-year-old Daniel Miller and Berube’s daughter, 16-year-old Jazmine Lyon.
READ MORE: Crown calls Edson triple murder ‘planned and deliberate’ in closing arguments
The Crown wrapped up its case Monday and the defence called no evidence in Bailey’s trial. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
The judge said the evidence was overwhelming that Bailey, 21, shot the three victims but there wasn’t enough evidence that he went to the home with the intention to kill, which is the reason the judge found Bailey guilty of second-degree murder.
According to the Crown prosecutor, Bailey shot his aunt, her boyfriend and his teenage cousin at close range with a shotgun; a planned and deliberate murder.
“Mickell Bailey had a plan and set that plan in motion,” Brandy Shaw said during Wednesday’s closing arguments.
Shaw painted a picture of Bailey waiting outside the home and watching for patterns. She told the court Bailey had later bragged to his friends that he had watched as the family let their dog out every 10 to 15 minutes.
“He waited for someone to let the dog out and it was Roxanne Berube and he shot her,” Shaw said.
READ MORE: Those who know man charged in Edson triple murder describe him as goofy kid
After shooting Berube, Shaw said Bailey confessed to friends that he shot Miller as he ran toward him, then followed Lyon in the kitchen as she slipped and fell and “like a horror movie, her begging: ‘No, Mickell.’”
Shaw told the court that Bailey’s confessions highlighted details that only someone at the house would have known. Specifically, that all three victims had been shot with a 12-gauge shotgun, as well as where the bodies were found and the location of the deadly wounds.
READ MORE: ‘I don’t understand’: Family reeling from triple murder near Edson
Lyon was shot in the face and both Berube and Miller had been shot in the neck. Bailey’s DNA had been found in three locations in the home.
The Crown said after the killings, Bailey took money, ammunition, rifles and a flat-screen TV from the home.
Bailey was arrested days after the killings, not far from the crime scene. He was shot by RCMP officers before being apprehended; police indicated he was armed when they arrived with their warrant.
RCMP found a flat-screen TV and rifle in his bedroom but Bailey’s defence lawyer, Nate Whitling, said there was no proof that the TV belonged to Berube and Miller or that the rifle came directly from their home.
Whitling said for months, Bailey was involved in the selling of stolen guns.
Whitling told the court the Crown failed to prove the identity of the murderer and that if the judge was convinced Bailey killed these people, the evidence pointed to a “robbery gone bad.”
READ MORE: Robbery was motivation for Edson triple murders, Crown alleges
Text messages between Bailey and a friend indicated Bailey had to “go do the job,” but was “not indicative of any intention to kill anyone,” said Whitling, stating Bailey had planned to do something, but it couldn’t be proven it wasn’t just robbery.
Whitling said the confessions his client made to a number of people were “simply not believable” and consistent with boasting and trying to impress others.
“People who saw and heard said they didn’t believe the confessions.”
He said the Crown’s theory of watching and waiting to establish a pattern of when the dog would be let out didn’t make sense with the timeline.
“There does exist a reasonable doubt where identity of the murderer in this case is Mickell Bailey.”
The Crown said Bailey shot Berube before he tried to take anything from the house.
“Motive is different than planning and deliberation,” Shaw said.
— More to come…
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