The Calgary jury which convicted a city man of first-degree murder in a revenge-motivated shooting wasn\u2019t improperly instructed on the law, the province\u2019s top court ruled Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In a unanimous decision, a three-member Alberta Court of Appeal panel upheld the conviction of Devon Shedrick<\/a> in the July 2, 2022, fatal shooting of Shawn McCormack.<\/p>\n The appeal judges disagreed with defence counsel Alias Sanders that Justice Keith Yamauchi\u2019s final instruction to jurors in the trial of Shedrick and co-accused Laura Lavorato were \u201cfatally flawed.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders submitted the Court of King\u2019s Bench judge failed to instruct jurors on multiple crucial points, including on how to utilize the evidence of the prosecution\u2019s star witness, a jailhouse informant referred to as X in the appeal court\u2019s written decision.<\/p>\n One argument raised by the defence was that Yamauchi told jurors their first responsibility in the case was \u201cto figure out what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe appellant submits that instruction negates the option of not being able to figure out what happened,\u201d the appeal judges said.<\/p>\n But the top court said Yamauchi\u2019s explanation to jurors made it clear what their duties were.<\/p>\n \u201cThe trial judge gave appropriate instructions on the presumption of innocence, the onus on the Crown and reasonable doubt. These instructions made it clear that if the jury was not able to be entirely sure what happened, they must acquit.\u201d<\/p>\n Jurors found Shedrick guilty of the planned and deliberate killing of McCormack, who had beaten him up six weeks earlier when both men were housed at the Calgary Remand Centre.<\/p>\n Before the killing, McCormack\u2019s girlfriend, Lavorato, had sent a text to Shedrick asking him to help deal with her abusive partner.<\/p>\n Lavorato, who was convicted of manslaughter, wanted Shedrick to badly assault McCormack so he\u2019d leave her Forest Lawn home and the killer took it a step further, shooting the victim once in the chest.<\/p>\n