Zameer had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder after he ran over Northrup with his car in an underground parking garage beneath Toronto City Hall on July 2, 2021.
Jury deliberations began Thursday evening after a five-week trial where Zameer testified he didn’t know Northrup and his partner were police, instead thinking his family was being ambushed by criminals.
Several times during the trial, the presiding judge questioned the Crown’s changing theory about what happened on July 2, 2021, at one point saying she didn’t see how the jury could convict Zameer of even the lesser second-degree murder charge.
During legal arguments not heard by the jury, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy repeatedly raised concerns about the prosecution’s changing narrative about where and how Northrup was struck.
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 only days before lawyers made their final arguments to the jury, after Molloy said she was struggling to understand it.
Earlier in the trial, after the Crown finished presenting its evidence and while the jury was absent, Molloy noted the discrepancy between the testimony of police officers who said Northrup was standing up when he was run over, and that of the prosecution’s expert.
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Zameer had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder after he ran over Northrup with his car in an underground parking garage beneath Toronto City Hall on July 2, 2021.
Jury deliberations began Thursday evening after a five-week trial where Zameer testified he didn’t know Northrup and his partner were police, instead thinking his family was being ambushed by criminals.
Several times during the trial, the presiding judge questioned the Crown’s changing theory about what happened on July 2, 2021, at one point saying she didn’t see how the jury could convict Zameer of even the lesser second-degree murder charge.
During legal arguments not heard by the jury, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy repeatedly raised concerns about the prosecution’s changing narrative about where and how Northrup was struck.
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 only days before lawyers made their final arguments to the jury, after Molloy said she was struggling to understand it.
Earlier in the trial, after the Crown finished presenting its evidence and while the jury was absent, Molloy noted the discrepancy between the testimony of police officers who said Northrup was standing up when he was run over, and that of the prosecution’s expert.
The original article contains 1,026 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!