Jury finds man guilty of 5 counts of 2nd-degree murder in Winnipeg drug house shootings
CBC
A jury has found a man accused of fatally shooting five people at a Winnipeg rooming house in 2023 guilty of five counts of second-degree murder.
Jamie Felix had pleaded not guilty in the November 2023 deaths of Melelek Leseri Lesikel, 29, Dylan Maxwell Lavallee, 41, Shawn Marko, 56, and sisters Crystal Shannon Beardy, 34, and Stephanie Amanda Beardy, 33.
All five victims were shot on Nov. 26, 2023, in what court heard described as a "crack shack" on Langside Street, in the West Broadway neighbourhood.
Two of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while two others died in hospital.
The fifth, Marko, survived for 18 months after the shooting but died last year. He identified a man named Jamie Houle — the same last name as Felix's brother — as the shooter, court heard.
The jury returned its verdict just before 5 p.m. on Thursday, after Manitoba Court of King's Bench Justice Alain G. J. Huberdeau gave them their instructions that morning.
Sighs of relief were heard from some of the victims' family members after the verdict was read.
But violence broke out in the courtroom soon after, when Felix punched a sheriff in the prisoner's box as they attempted to escort him out. Several officers tried to hold him back, and spectators were ordered to leave the courtroom.
During the trial, which began Feb. 17, Crown attorneys Georgia Couturier and Chantal Boutin argued Felix, despite consuming alcohol and drugs, knew what he was doing and was aware his actions resulted in the deaths of multiple people.
In her closing arguments this week, Boutin said Felix made the choice to carry a gun in his pocket, followed his father's instruction to open fire in the house despite not wanting to, tried to shoot himself after the shooting and then fled the home.
Felix later confessed to the killings to his ex-girlfriend and told his mother he wouldn't be around for much longer, saying he would have fun until "they" came for him, Boutin told court on Monday.
Boutin encouraged the jury to trust the testimony from Felix's ex-girlfriend, whose identity is protected under a publication ban.
The prosecutor argued the woman's testimony is corroborated by testimony from other witnesses, including Xena Hall, who was in the house at the time of the shooting.
Defence lawyers Theodore Mariash and Jason Malloy cast doubt on the Crown's theory, arguing Felix's late father, Randolph (Chummy) Fagnan, orchestrated the killings because he wanted to rob the suite where the shootings took place.
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