A 海角社区官网jury has convicted two men of first-degree murder in the killing of beloved Regent Park community worker Thane Murray and attempted murder of his two childhood friends in what prosecutors described as a shockingly violent act targeting innocent victims for no other reason than where they lived.
A makeshift memorial popped up soon after Murray’s murder.
Richard Lautens/海角社区官网Star
On Saturday night, jurors found Noah Anderson and Junior Jahmal Harvey, both 24, guilty after deliberating for about a day. Another accused man has a preliminary hearing set for September; there is a Canada-wide arrest warrant for a fourth man.
Just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2021, Murray and two pals were talking hoops in a parking lot of a 海角社区官网Community Housing complex in the downtown Regent Park neighbourhood when four masked men ran toward them and opened fire.
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鈥淲e were just hanging out,鈥 one of the victims testified at the just-completed trial, 鈥渨e have a basketball game every Sunday, so just meeting up to game plan for our game the next day.鈥
He recalled four men, all in black and wearing masks, suddenly showing up, prompting him to ask his friends if they knew the group. His friends 鈥渢urned around and started running, so I started running too and heard gunshots.鈥
He was shot in the foot. The other friend survived despite being shot nine times; he was in hospital for three months, including three weeks in a coma.
Murray, 27, was shot at least 14 times, including in his head. He died at the scene in the Oak and Sumach Streets area.
He was well known in Regent Park as a mentor to local kids.
Murray worked at several city-run facilities and was a 鈥渕uch-loved community member who will be deeply missed,鈥 said a statement released by the city in 2021.听
鈥淥ne thing about Thane is that he knew everybody in the neighbourhood 鈥 every kid, every teenager, old or young,鈥 soccer coach T鈥檃i Simm-Smith told the Star at the time.
Thane Murray, a 27-year-old youth and recreation worker, was killed last Saturday evening.
The Crown鈥檚 case was entirely circumstantial.
In their closing address, prosecutors argued there was evidence the four men rented a nearby hotel room, changed their clothes, licence plates and shut off their phones.听
鈥淭hey thought they got away with it but they were captured on surveillance cameras along the way,鈥 jurors were told.
Prosecutors built their case using cellphone records and extensive surveillance footage. The shooting itself was captured, though the gunmen can鈥檛 be identified.
The evidence included footage that the Crown attorneys said showed Anderson changing the licence plate on a rented car less than 15 minutes after the murder. 鈥淲hy would someone who has rented a car, while owning two of his own, want to change the licence plates on a rental for only one hour?鈥 the prosecutors asked.
Neither defendant testified. But the defence lawyers in their cross-examination tried to establish that the gunmen came and left on foot and left the area on foot.
The prosecution also presented to the jury two 鈥渃ritical pieces of evidence鈥 found on Anderson鈥檚 phone, including a rap song called 鈥淧eppered,鈥 and videos of firearms.
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鈥淧eppered鈥 was written by the men who shot Murray and his friends, prosecutors said, describing the lyrics as 鈥渃hilling, when you consider all of the evidence.鈥澨
The lyrics speak of hatred toward Regent Park and refer directly to the murder, prosecutors said, referring to words including: 鈥淗ead shot, he had a seizure, sent that boy straight to Jesus,鈥 and the line: 鈥淲e some RP killas,鈥 referring to Regent Park.
Jurors were urged to 鈥渂elieve their words.鈥澨
Defence lawyers argued the Crown was criminalizing creative expression and suggested the song was being used to explain an inexplicable crime.
In a pre-trial ruling, Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts allowed the Crown attorney to present 鈥淧eppered鈥 to the jury, finding the probative value 鈥渟ignificantly鈥 outweighed the prejudicial effect.
鈥淭he evidence suggested in the lyrics provides important context necessary for the jury to do their work in this case,鈥 she wrote in a decision released last fall.
And after a mid-trial voir dire, Roberts turned down a defence request to permit a U.S. professor of race and media to testify that 鈥drill鈥 rap is a form of artistic expression and often includes first-person bragging about committing violent acts.
海角社区官网is seeing many of same cycles of online mythmaking, provocation and violence that
In her 10-page written reasons released Monday, the judge stated the professor鈥檚 evidence wasn鈥檛 necessary because she could provide jurors with 鈥渃lear instructions鈥 on the admissibility of rap lyrics. 鈥淭he fact that rap lyrics may not be true, even when they are sung or rapped in the first person, is not a difficult concept that jurors will be unfamiliar with or have difficulty understanding,鈥 she wrote.
Defence lawyer Nader Hasan, who represented Harvey, said his client and his family are still processing the verdict. 鈥淚 expect, however, that there will be an appeal.鈥
The Star did not immediately hear back from Anderson鈥檚 counsel.
A sentencing hearing is set for June 17. While the men are facing an automatic life sentence with no chance to apply for parole for 25 years, the judge has discretion on sentencing as it relates to their attempted murder convictions.听
They will have no guarantee of parole at their first eligibility date, nor ever.
Betsy Powell is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and
courts for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: .
Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering courts,
justice and legal affairs for the Star. Reach him by email
at听jgallant@thestar.ca or
follow him on Twitter:
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