Steven Randy Pirko’s second-degree murder trial is coming to a close as Crown counsel and defence lawyers gave their closing statements Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Jordan Watt claimed Pirko, who is charged with the 2014 killing of Christoper Ausman, has two defences: he was intoxicated and he was defending his friend. Elrich Dyck.
“Pirko doesn’t have to prove these things, the burden lies on the Crown,” said Watt.
Watt told the jury Ausman was seen running across four lanes of Highway 33 with the intention to fight.
According to Watt, Pirko never had the intention to fight, his only intention was to help his friend.
“Pirko is innocent, and he remains innocent until each and every one of you (the jury) prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Watt.
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He asked the jury to take into consideration Dyck’s testimony transcripts that were read in court from an undercover police operation, where he claimed it was as much his fault as Pirko’s.
Watt admitted Dyck’s testimony was flawed because he wasn’t mentally well and off his medication, but the jury should still consider the points he made to them.
“Dyck had very different testimonies in court denying these allegations than what he said in the undercover procedure, but the transcripts don’t lie,” said Watt.
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Watt told the jury not to be mislead by the injuries to Ausman’s face, “when you look they aren’t that significant.”
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Watt claimed that under the circumstances, Pirko defending his friend wasn’t unreasonable.
Crown David Grabavac told the jury, that helping a friend shouldn’t be a defence because Pirko hit Ausman multiple times and didn’t stop when he realized the effect it had on Ausman.
“You have to consider with the alcohol consumption Pirko had in his system, anything he did would be slower than if he was sober,” said Grabavac.
Grabavac asked the jury to consider the evidence in which Pirko admitted he was guilty, that the statement Pirko made;
“I hit him (Ausman) in the leg nothing happened, I hit him again nothing happened, I hit him again.”
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He brought up how Dyck said he saw Ausman’s eyes close and the life leave his body.
“One thing we do know about Dyck is he did not have a hammer on him, Pirko did, Dyck did not kill Ausman, Pirko did,” said Grabavac.
He said Dyck and Pirko didn’t suffer any injuries the night of Ausman’s death.
He told jurors, Pirko was standing nearby and he would have been able to see all the injuries inflicted on Ausman.
He reminded the jury, Ausman had 15 injuries to his head and face.
Pirko’s fate is now in jurors’ hands.
@LarynGilmour
laryn.gilmour@blackpress.ca
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