The first man to be tried in the 2005 Boxing Day shooting death of Toronto teenager Jane Creba was found guilty on Sunday of second-degree murder.Jane Creba, 15, was shot to death on Dec. 26, 2005, as two groups of people exchanged gunfire in a crowd of holiday shoppers on Yonge Street.
He was also found guilty of five weapons charges and two of six counts of aggravated assault.
The man, now 20, was 17 at the time of the killing and can be identified only as J.S.R.
The Ontario Superior Court jury reached its verdict after four days of deliberations.
Creba, 15, was among shoppers on a crowded Yonge Street when she was struck by a stray bullet during a shootout between two groups.
The judge told the jury earlier in the trial that he was reducing six attempted murder charges to six counts of aggravated assault, relating to four men and two women wounded in the crossfire.
"There was absolute silence as the jury foreperson rose to her feet and announced the verdict," said CBC reporter John Lancaster.
When the defendant was arrested, shortly after the shootout, he was found to be carrying a nine-millimetre handgun, which had been traced back to some of those wounded in the incident.
His lawyers had argued that he never shot the pistol — that one of the gunmen passed it to J.S.R. moments after all of its bullets were fired.
Eight other people — one youth and seven adult suspects — charged with either second-degree murder or manslaughter in Creba's death are expected to go on trial next year.
JEREMIAH VALENTINE is charged with 2nd degree murder.
Valentine, Louis Raphael Woodcock and Tyshaun Barnett, are charged with second-degree murder in Creba's death and the attempted murder of the six people injured at the scene.
Andre Thompson, his brother Shaun Thompson, Andrew Smith and Vincent Davis are the four adults charged with manslaughter. They are expected to be tried next autumn.
The black gunman and his friend, faced the 11 males, all but one black, who were ranged metres to the north of him outside the apparel store.
A teenaged girl who was friends with J.S.R. testified that this gunman approached one of the larger group and "dapped" – made as if to touch fists – with him in greeting.
Then, she testified, the gunman said: "Are these your boys? 'cause these are my boys and I've got a .357. just like fitty cent would yo" Then he opened fire at the group. At least two of its members shot back before everyone scattered.
Creba was hit in the back, the bullet exiting her throat. She staggered and fell into the road, at least one of her legs straddling the sidewalk.
David Tarnowski, the Crown's key eyewitness, allegedly saw J.S.R. firing.
But Tarnowski failed to identify him in a police photo lineup shortly after the shooting. He said the shooter had an earring, and had his hair in cornrows or braids with a small ponytail in the back.
But J.S.R. wore no earring and his hair was covered in a black and white bandanna.
The Crown maintained that Tarnowski could have mistaken the way the bandanna, or "do-rag" was tied at the nape of the neck for a small ponytail.
Tarnowski said the shooter had a white cap. J.S.R.'s baseball-style cap was blue, black and, in the front, white with a Philadelphia 76ers logo.
Tarnowski said the shooter wore white on his chest. J.S.R. was wearing an oversized white T-shirt under his dark jacket, but there was no proof his jacket was open at the time of the shooting.
Valentine, Woodcock and Tyshaun Barnett, are charged with second-degree murder in Creba's death and the attempted murder of the six people injured at the scene.
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