A Prince George man has been found guilty of manslaughter for getting into a fatal confrontation with a tattoo artist who was unable to make good on a promise because he was too ill to do his job.
Stocky and with a flat nose, Robert Oliver Nelson, 37, nodded his head in apparent acceptance when B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams reached his verdict Thursday at Prince George courthouse, in the July 14, 2009 death of Darren Lee Paterson, who was 29 years old.
The question of the cause of Paterson's death, found to be blunt force trauma to the head, was complicated by the fact that he called ambulance dispatch nearly an hour after the incident and declined to name his attacker, saying that would only get him into more trouble.
Paterson also suffered from an extensive number of medical problems, including hepatitis C, an enlarged liver and heart, and renal disease that require dialysis treatment. Evidence also showed he used cocaine and marijuana.
Defence counsel had raised the possibility that a separate knock to the head - possibly from a second attack or a fall in his apartment - in the hour or so between the attack by Nelson and Paterson's call to the ambulance dispatch, could have caused his death.
But Williams dismissed the scenarios, saying the time period was simply too short for either a second altercation or for Paterson to regain consciousness and make the call if he had knocked himself out.
Williams also noted the morphine found in Paterson's system suggested he more likely would have fallen asleep for an extended period rather than knock himself out with a fall.
From testimony heard during the trial, Williams concluded that on that day, Nelson twice took a taxi to a home on Quince Street where he expected to find Paterson and confront him over an advance Nelson had given Paterson to get a tattoo done.
When he was successful on the second trip, Nelson got out of the taxi carrying a collapsable baton and approached Paterson, telling a nearby witness to pick up her child "because someone was going to get beat up."
When Paterson appeared to empty his pockets, Nelson struck him in the chest with the extended baton and then punched him in the face, knocking Paterson to the ground where he lay motionless for a few minutes, while Nelson left the scene via the taxi.
The side of his face heavily swollen, Paterson made his way to the home where those inside gave him some drugs, including morphine, and drove him back to his apartment at the corner of Third and Winnipeg, with his bike in the trunk of the car.
Roughly 45 minutes later, Paterson called the ambulance dispatch. According to a recording of the conversation, Paterson told the dispatcher he got hit by someone, was feeling dizzy and had to go to hospital in a couple hours anyway for dialysis.
Paterson was conscious and talking when ambulance attendants arrived shortly before 3 p.m., less than 10 minutes after the call. But following his arrival at hospital, Paterson's vital signs deteriorated rapidly leading to a surgical procedure to relieve the pressure on his brain.
But the operation was not successful and Paterson died that evening.
Nelson will be sentenced on Tuesday.
