The Crown closed its case Wednesday against two Saint John men charged with being accessories after the fact to murder with testimony from a woman who previously refused to testify.
Crown prosecutor Elaina Campbell recalled Amber Smith in the case against Stephen Martin, 67, and Charles Pleasance, 59, who are on trial in the Court of King’s Bench for allegedly assisting Jinelle Thompson to escape, knowing she had murdered Allan Lee.
The body of Lee, 52, was discovered in a wooded area on the western outskirts of the city, near Lorneville, on Aug. 1, 2024.
Thompson, who is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, testified earlier in the trial that she shot Lee on July 31 in the back of the head with a .22 gun in Martin’s Jeep, then pulled him to the ground and shot him twice more “in the heart.”
The Crown alleges Martin and Pleasance cleaned the Jeep Patriot, which was later taken to a junkyard to be crushed.
After roughly seven hours in the witness box, persistent questioning by Campbell and the jury being excused several times to allow the judge and lawyers to wrestle with some legal issues, Smith ultimately testified that she was with Martin in his Jeep the day after Lee was killed.
Martin told her his Jeep had been “used” in connection with Lee and that the vehicle needed a new trunk,
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