What the jury didn't hear at the murder trial of Umar Zameer

The judge overseeing the trial of a man accused of fatally running over a Toronto police officer repeatedly raised concerns over the prosecution's changing theory of what happened that night and at one point indicated she did not see how a jury could reach a guilty verdict on murder based on evidence presented in court.

During legal arguments not heard by the jury, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy on several occasions asked the Crown to lay out its narrative for how Umar Zameer came to hit Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup with his car on July 2, 2021.

Prosecutors Michael Cantlon and Karen Simone raised new theories about where and how Northrup was struck after all their evidence had been presented to the jury, including some that were not brought up during their own expert's testimony.

One such theory — that Northrup was "clearly visible" to Zameer when he was hit regardless of his position, which itself is in dispute — was abandoned earlier this week, just days before lawyers were set to make their final arguments to the jury, after Molloy said she was struggling to understand it.

The Crown's position "keeps morphing," the judge said Monday during legal arguments over her instructions to the jury.

"Doesn't it trouble you at all that the first time we're hearing this theory of the mechanics of how this occurred is after all of the evidence is closed and the experts have finished?" she said at one point.

Arguments and evidence discussed in the absence of the jury cannot be published until deliberations begin and the jury is sequestered. Jurors began deliberating Thursday evening.

Zameer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Northrup's death. The officer died after being hit by a vehicle in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall.

The fact that Zameer ran over the officer is not in dispute. Rather, the case centres on whether he intended to do it — or even knew that it happened — as well as whether he was aware that the people who approached his family were police officers.

The defence has argued Northrup's death was a tragic accident but not a crime. Defence lawyers say Zameer and his pregnant wife did not know Northrup and his partner — who were in plain clothes — were police officers and the couple feared for their lives when two strangers rushed towards their car shortly after midnight. The couple's two-year-old son was also in the car.

Prosecutors have alleged Zameer chose to drive dangerously knowing police officers were nearby and drove directly at Northrup, causing the officer's death. They have argued the defence's position that Zameer didn't see Northrup or know he had hit someone is inconceivable given the officer's height and size.

Three police officers who witnessed the incident have testified that Northrup was standing with his hands raised in front of him in the middle of a laneway when he was run over. Two of them said Northrup fell on the hood of the car before dropping off and going under the wheels.

However, two crash reconstruction experts — one called by the Crown and one by the defence — told court they concluded Northrup had been side swiped and knocked down by the car as it was reversing and was already on the ground when he was run over. Both noted the absence of damage or marks in the dust on the front of the car, which they said they would expect to see if someone was hit head-on.

Barry Raftery, the expert called by the defence, also testified that Northrup would have been in the car's blind zone and not visible to Zameer when he was on the ground.