A long-running murder trial came to an end Friday when a jury found three men guilty of carrying out a plot to kill a man for allegedly stealing drugs and money.
Dustin Allen Lindgren, 29, and Lyle William Baker, 45, were found guilty of first degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without eligibility to apply for parole for 25 years.
Kevin Roy Zaporoski, 50, was found guilty of second-degree murder which also carries a life sentence but the amount of time he must serve before he can seek parole is still to be determined by a judge following submissions from Crown and defence counsels.
The jury recommended he serve at least 12 years.
The outcomes stem from the June 2012 death of Jordan Christian Reno, 22, whose body was found in a box in the back of Baker's 4100-block Knight Crescent property.
The three were arrested in early 2015 and the trial before a six-man, five-woman jury began late April.
In an opening statement, Crown prosecution argued it was a case of a plan to "work over" Reno escalating into a plan to murder him after he ended up in the middle of "serious conflicts" with a number of people in the city's drug scene.
It began when another man, Bradley Douglas Barr , 37, sent a text message to Baker, offering him $5,000 to "help work Reno over." Baker agreed and recruited Zaporoski.
It turned into a murder plot when Lindgren, who was also at odds with Reno, got in contact with Baker and Zaporoski after complaining to Barr.
In March, Barr was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in relation to the incident. Barr also faces a count of contempt of court for refusing to testify during the trial.
Barr is also currently serving a seven-year sentence for nearly killing an adversary with a shotgun blast during a showdown in front of a marijuana grow-op in Prince George.
To get a conviction for first-degree murder, the Crown must prove beyond reasonable doubt the act was committed with planning and deliberation. Second-degree murder is reserved for killings carried out on impulse. For manslaughter, the death must be the result actions are reckless enough to put the victim at risk of loss of life.
The case against the three centred largely on text messages between Lindgren and Baker as well as video and images from a security camera at Baker's home showing Baker and Zaporoski taking Reno into Baker's home.
A woman also testified overhearing Zaporoski saying he should "kill that kid."
Reno was found in a wooden box wrapped in plastic from head to foot and his ankles bound together. As well, his nose and mouth covered with a piece of white plastic, then a piece of cloth and with plastic wrapped around his head.
A pathologist found Reno had died from blunt force trauma to his head and could not say when the plastic was applied. But if he was still alive at the time, Reno would have suffocated to death, the pathologist told the court.
Testimony indicated Reno had got on Lindgren's bad side when he intervened and collected money owed to Lindgren for drugs. Lindgren had been in Quesnel at the time working for Barr and had owed him about $10,000, the court had also heard.
During the trial, mention was made of Jason Alexander Hall, the former Renegades biker gang president who was gunned down on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Gillett Street in March 2015. Prior to Reno's death, the two had been arrested by police, the court had heard.
It took the jury more than three days of deliberations last to reach its verdict. In all, the trial lasted 10 weeks.
