Defence Lawyer In Creba Case: You Can’t Convict If He Didn’t Shoot

For the man with the tough task of defending a suspect charged in the murder of 15-year-old Jane Creba, the case is simple: you can be angry at what happened on Boxing Day 2005, but you can’t blame someone who never fired a weapon.

That’s what defence lawyer Gary Grill told the jury as the trial of a young offender known only as JSR wraps up in Toronto.

The Crown spent much of its final summation Tuesday arguing that though the accused – who was just 17 at the time of the crime and still has his identity protected – may not have fired a gun into the crowd at Yonge and Dundas that terrible December day, the fact that he was part of the group that did is enough to convict him of second-degree murder.

But Grill told the panel who will decide his fate that it’s important to separate fact from fury and that any emotion should be directed at the real killer. JSR was found to holding a .9mm gun when he was arrested at Castle Frank subway station not long after the shoot-out, which also left six others wounded.

But he claims it was given to him by a friend after the carnage on Yonge St. “As human beings we can’t help but feel anger at Jane Creba’s death and anger at JSR for taking the gun from Louis Woodcock,” Grill argues.

“How can we not feel that anger, especially as parents, as human beings? We also know we make our best decisions based on reason and common sense.”

But he stressed unless JSR pulled that trigger, he can’t be guilty of murder. “You can give no greater respect to Jane Creba than to rely on the truth. JSR did not fire a gun that day and did not kill Jane Creba. Woodcock fired that gun and passed it to a boy – the boy closest to him – who put it in his pocket and rode the subway with it for half an hour. The .9mm gun was never passed during the gun fight.”

Grill admitted his client was ‘stupid’ for taking the weapon but it doesn’t make him a killer. And he called one of the Crown’s key witnesses unreliable, one of 26 who testified during the 6-week trial.

Grill pointed out he was so terrified at the time of the shooting that he was unable to even remember the race of the person he thought he saw wielding the weapon.

Justice Ian Nordheimer will give his charge to the jury, who will then begin deliberations in what will be the first of several trials surrounding the infamous crime.

Their first discussions towards reaching a verdict are expected to begin in earnest on Thursday.