Sebastian Martin, a man who chased Jordan Taylor McLeod into the night with a shotgun and who, according to a key witness, said 'I got him boss,' shortly after McLeod was murdered, was little more than a minor player in the crime, according to his defence lawyer.
Martin's defence lawyer, James Heller, finished his closing arguments on Thursday by making the case that Martin should be found guilty of second degree murder. He, along with Darren and Kurtis Sundman, is on trial for first degree murder in relation to the murder of McLeod. Heller argued that the evidence presented by the crown did not justify that Martin had taken part in pre-planning McLeod's killing.
Heller spent the majority of his closing arguments drawing a picture of Stacey Stevenson, a key witness for the prosecution, as a methamphetamine addict, a pathological liar and a woman driven by racial prejudice against Martin.
Stevenson was the only witness to the death of McLeod on the night of January 16 of 2015. She testified earlier in the trial that she had witnessed McLeod jump from a moving Silverado, driven by Kurtis, following an argument with Darren. The argument concerned a disagreement over the price of drugs that McLeod had been supplying Darren and Kurtis. McLeod had begun running into the woods, followed by Darren, Kurtis and Martin. Darren had been armed with a handgun, Martin with a shotgun. Stevenson had then moved into the front of the truck, and testified she heard several gunshots, followed by Martin saying the words "I got him boss."
Heller argued in court that Stevenson's testimony was unreliable and said she had lied multiple times to police in her initial statements.
"Stevenson's statements to the police were patently self-serving," Heller told the court.
According to Heller's account, Stevenson's statements to police changed several times. She had initially told police during her first interview, days after the killing of McLeod, that she thought he was still alive and that she was expecting a text message from him.
"So many opportunities for her conscience to come to the fore, if she really had that kind of love and fondness for Jordan, and it sure doesn't happen there," Heller told the court.
Stevenson had testified during the trial that she had stayed in the Silverado with Darren, Kurtis and Martin as they dumped the body of McLeod on a remote logging road, and then had helped clean the truck in hopes of erasing evidence. She had also testified that she had been involved in a love triangle between McLeod and Darren.
Heller also argued that Stevenson may have been motivated by racial hatred for Martin, who is a First Nations man. Heller drew attention to a statement that Stevenson initially made to police days after the murder. In the statement, Stevenson had indicated that methamphetamine she had been taking had done "something to my brain" because she otherwise would not have sat next to Martin "because he's a nasty little Indian."
Heller, like the defence lawyers for Darren and Kurtis, told the court that Stevenson's testimony and memory should be deemed completely unreliable because of her chronic use of methamphetamine.
Later, however, Heller used Stevenson's testimony as evidence that Martin had been only an unwitting accomplice, with Darren and Kurtis being more motivated to pre-plan the killing.
"One constant she recalls was that Martin wasn't saying anything. Her interpretation of that was that he was waiting to be told what to do. She said at one point that Darren was hitting McLeod and 'Martin just sat there like a puppy, quietly,'" Heller told the court.
During the trial it had been acknowledged that Darren and Kurtis had been engaged in drug trafficking with McLeod. It is unclear to what degree Martin was engaged in the drug trade.
The trial will conclude on Friday.
