Jeffrey Cansanay Murder Trial

Jeffrey Cansanay is charged with the second degree murder of Philip Haiart and 3 counts of attempted murder for Abass Jalloh, Gharib Abdullah and Corey Amyotte. 

For the jury to convict Cansanay of second degree murder, they must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Cansanay caused the death of Haiart and that his actions were intentional.

If the jury is not satisfied that Cansanay's actions killed Haiart, they must acquit him of all charges. 

If they are satisfied that he did kill Haiart but that it was NOT INTENTIONAL, then they must convict Cansanay of Manslaughter (unintentional killing).  

For the jury to convict of attempted murder, they must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Cansanay had the intent to murder innocent bystander Jalloh and two rival gang members, Abdullah and Amyotte.

If the jury is NOT satisfied that Cansanay had the INTENT to murder the three individuals, they must convict of Discharge a Firearm with Intent, which means Cansanay did discharge the gun at Abdullah and Amyotte with intent, but did not intend to injure Jalloh.

The Crown alleges that Cansanay fired the shots at rival gang members as part of gang war over territory regarding the selling of crack cocaine. 

The Crown's key witness was Gharib Abdullah, the rival gang member who the Crown alleges, the bullets were intended for. He testified that he saw Cansanay holding a gun prior to the shots being fired that killed Haiart and wounded Jalloh. He did NOT directly see Cansanay fire the gun. He never saw WHO pulled the trigger. In the previous trial against Cansanay, where he was acquitted, Abdullah refused to testify and was convicted of contempt of court. He is an active member of the Mad Cowz gang, a rival gang to the one Cansanay was a member of, the African Mafia. Abdullah may simply want to implicate Cansanay because he was a rival gang member who left the Mad Cowz. Defence argued that Abdullah's testimony is uncredible and should be dismissed because both Abdullah and Amyotte were convicted of contempt of court after they refused to testify at Cansanay's first trial in 2007. They are manipulative and have lied in the past. Abdullah, who is on parole currently, only testified in the current trial to help his case against deportation, defence alleged. He only told the story that the Crown wants the jury to hear. Defence said, lying comes easy to these people.  

Amyotte also took the stand but claimed he wasn't at the scene of the crime, which is inconsistent with his videotaped statement to police.

Personally, if I were a juror, I would not be believing anything that Amyotte or Abdullah are saying. To me, the Crown has not proven Cansanay's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore, I feel he should be acquitted of all charges.