The case of two men charged with being accessories after the fact to murder in the death of a Saint John man two years ago is now in the hands of the jury.
Deliberations began about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday after closing arguments and the judge’s charge to the jury.
Stephen Martin, 67, and Charles Pleasance, 59, have been on trial in Court of King’s Bench in Saint John since Aug. 24, accused of with assisting Jinelle Thompson to escape, knowing she had murdered Allan Lee.
The body of the 52-year-old Lee was discovered along an ATV trail in woods on the western outskirts of the city, near Lorneville, on Aug. 1, 2024.
Thompson is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
At the accessories trial, she testified she shot Lee in Martin’s Jeep on July 31 in the back of the head, then pulled him to the ground and shot him twice more “in the heart.”
An image taken from police drone video of the area where Lee’s body was discovered by a man on an ATV. (Court of King’s Bench exhibit)
Proceedings began with 14 jurors, but Justice Arthur Doyle said a maximum of 12 jurors could deliberate. Two were chosen at random and dismissed after the judge delivered his charge.
Matthew Oliver and Heather Daigle, the lawyers for Pleasance and Martin, respectively, said that the Crown’s evidence doesn’t show the two men were aware Thompson had committed murder or that they helped her clean and dispose of the vehicle after the fact.
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