Lawyer Clayton Ruby reacts to Kachkar verdict

Prominent Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby wasn’t surprised by the jury’s verdict on Wednesday in the Richard Kachkar murder trial.

“This was not a murder,” he told CityNews. “This was just somebody who was out of it intellectually.”

Kachkar, 46, was found not criminally responsible in the death of Toronto police Sgt. Ryan Russell, who was struck and killed by a stolen snowplow on Jan. 12, 2011.

Clayton, who said it’s rare for a jury to find someone not criminally responsible, says that Kachkar will remain “locked up” likely for the rest of his life.

He won’t be released until a panel of laypeople decide that it’s safe to release him, and “that could be many, many years.”

Russell’s widow, Christine, sat motionless after the verdict was read and then shook her head. (Click here to read more about her reaction.)

“It’s just harsh and unreasoning to say, ‘I want a murder verdict here. It’s going to make me feel better.’ It shouldn’t,” Ruby said. “What happened here was quite obviously the act of somebody who was deranged.”

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