Jury finds man guilty of second degree murder

Jury finds man guilty of murder in inner city

WINNIPEG — He claimed the real killer was never caught - but a jury has ruled otherwise in finding a Winnipeg man guilty of a deadly inner-city shooting.

Cory Bushie was in tears Thursday night after being convicted of second-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of 20-year-old Aaron
Nabess in a lane behind a known crack house at 575 Magnus Ave.

Jurors heard two weeks of evidence and needed just a few hours of deliberations to reach their verdict.

Bushie now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. Queen's Bench Justice Doug Abra has the option of raising eligibility between 11 and 25 years.

All 12 jurors were polled on the parole question following their verdict, as required by law.

The results were mixed - three said Bushie should have to serve at least 25 years behind bars, which is the same penalty for first-degree murder.

One suggested it go up to 12 years, one suggested the 10 year minimum, and the other seven had no recommendation.

Sentencing will be held later this spring. Bushie remains in custody.

The case centred around two women who testified they saw Bushie pull the trigger. But defence lawyer Danny Gunn argued this week there wasn't enough evidence to convict his client and that the real killer wasn't put on trial.

"I can't tell you who did it. I wish I could," Gunn said during his
closing arguments. "But this case can't possibly be one with proof
beyond a reasonable doubt."

Gunn said there were plenty of other people with opportunity and motive to kill Nabess, a known drug dealer. Gunn suggested the eyewitness testimony from two women who say they watched Bushie shoot Nabess is flawed and may have been an attempt to cover up the truth.

However, the Crown told jurors there should be no doubt about Bushie's guilt. They noted the testimony of Marilia Martins, who broke down in tears last week while describing how Nabess and Bushie got into a dispute that ended with gunfire while she and a friend stood nearby. The four had just left the North End home, where a party was going on inside.

"Aaron told Cory 'I can get my boys' and Cory said '(Expletive) your
boys'," said Martins. "Then Cory pulled out the gun. He shot him."

Bushie guilty of second degree murder

A jury has convicted Cory Bushie of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of another man outside an inner-city crack house.
Jurors reached their verdict at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday following a half day of deliberations.
Aaron Nabess was killed in July 2007 following an altercation outside a Magnus Avenue crack house.
After the verdict was delivered, Nabess’ mother broke down sobbing while on the other side of the court gallery Bushie’s mother hung her head in sorrow.
Bushie faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. He will return to court this summer to determine when he should be eligible for parole.
Three jurors recommended he serve the maximum 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole, while seven jurors had no recommendation, one recommended 10 years and another 10-12 years.
The Crown’s case against Bushie relied on the testimony of two women who arrived at the crack house in the company of Bushie and Nabess.
One of the women testified she saw Bushie pull a gun from his pants following an argument between the two men while the other woman testified she saw Bushie shoot Nabess.
Defence lawyer Danny Gunn argued the physical evidence didn’t support the women’s version of events.
Gunn said the trajectory of the bullets was inconsistent with their claim of where the shooting took place. A blood trail started several houses away from where the woman said Nabess was shot, Gunn said.
“This can’t have occurred in the manner described,” Gunn said Monday in his closing argument. “I can’t tell you who did it,” Gunn said. “I wish I could.”
A final sentencing date will be set next month.

Guilty verdict in shooting 
HE claimed the real killer was never caught -- but a jury has ruled otherwise in finding a Winnipeg man guilty of a deadly inner-city shooting.
Cory Bushie was in tears Thursday night after being convicted of second-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of 20-year-old Aaron Nabess in a lane behind a known crack house at 575 Magnus Ave.
Jurors heard two weeks of evidence and needed just a few hours of deliberations to reach their verdict.
Bushie now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. Queen's Bench Justice Doug Abra has the option of raising eligibility between 11 and 25 years.
All 12 jurors were polled on the parole question following their verdict, as required by law.
The results were mixed. Three said Bushie should have to serve at least 25 years behind bars, which is the same penalty for first-degree murder. One suggested it go up to 12 years, one suggested the 10-year minimum, and the other seven had no recommendation.
Sentencing will be held later this spring. Bushie remains in custody.
The case centred around two women who testified they saw Bushie pull the trigger. But defence lawyer Danny Gunn argued this week there wasn't enough evidence to convict his client and that the real killer wasn't put on trial.
"I can't tell you who did it. I wish I could," Gunn said during his closing arguments. "But this case can't possibly be one with proof beyond a reasonable doubt."
Gunn said there were plenty of other people with opportunity and motive to kill Nabess, a known drug dealer. Gunn suggested the eyewitness testimony from two women who say they watched Bushie shoot Nabess is flawed and may have been an attempt to cover up the truth.
However, the Crown told jurors there should be no doubt about Bushie's guilt. They noted the testimony of Marilia Martins, who broke down in tears last week while describing how Nabess and Bushie got into a dispute that ended with gunfire while she and a friend stood nearby. The four had just left the North End home, where a party was going on inside.
"Aaron told Cory 'I can get my boys' and Cory said '(Expletive) your boys,'" said Martins. "Then Cory pulled out the gun. He shot him."

My Article:

Cory Bushie, found guilty of second degree murder, in fatal shooting
By Brittany Maria Thiessen, April 22, 2010 9:26 pm


On the evening of April 22nd, a jury reached a verdict in the murder case against Cory Owen Bushie, 30, after deliberating for only 5 hours. The found Bushie guilty of second degree murder, as charged.

The Crown`s case against Bushie, consisted of two key witnesses, who claimed they saw Bushie pull the trigger of a gun in the July 2007 killing of Aaron Nabess, 20, in the back lane of a Magnus Avenue crack house. Clearly, the jury accepted the testimony from the two witnesses.

Both women who testified, Beatrice Yellowback and Marilia Martens, had been consuming copious amounts of alcohol at a party on Pritchard Street, shortly before they arrived at the Magnus house. They were accompanied by Bushie at the party. Yellowback testified that everyone at the party appeared to be drinking. Martens told police that Bushie had been "all drunk and stupid." Martens and Yellowback testified to observing Nabess and Bushie arguing in the back lane, after Bushie had stepped in on a dispute between Nabess and Martens. Both women testified to seeing Bushie pull out a gun and shoot Nabess. Martens said, "Cory pulled out the gun. He shot him (Nabess)." Martens also said that it had been dark and she could not see the faces of either Nabess or Bushie clearly, but assumed it was them because nobody else had been in the back lane. Both women denied the suggestion to being too drunk to be able to see things clearly.

The defence, Danny Gunn, argued that their was not enough evidence to convict his client. He said there were many other people with opportunity and motive to kill Nabess, as he was a well known drug dealer in the area. Gunn claimed that the eyewitness testimony from the two women who testified to seeing Bushie shoot the gun, was flawed and might have been an attempt to cover the truth.

Second degree murder requires intent to kill. The jury also had the option of convicting Bushie of manslaughter, which is unintentional killing, most often used in cases where the accused was intoxicated or provoked.

Bushie now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for anywhere between 10 and 25 years, as will be decided by the Judge at a later date. The jury had a number of parole eligibility recommendations for Bushie. One juror recommended 10 years, one recommended between 10 and 12 years, three recommended 25 years and seven had no recommendations.

I thought Bushie should have been convicted of manslaughter, because I didn`t think the Crown proved intent to kill, beyond a reasonable doubt. Bushie was likely intoxicated and may have been provoked by Nabess. 

I also completely disagree with the mandatory life sentences for murder. It limits judicial discretion severely in not allowing them to consider all mitigating and aggravating circumstances. Not all murders are equal, yet they are treated like they are in sentencing. All murders and all offenders are unique and different and all have different circumstances surrounding their crimes. They should be sentenced differently. Plus, MMS causes more trials and more prison overcrowding. MMS also do not deter crime.