Judge says Calgary teen's version of events "impossible," convicts him of murder
Finding a city teen's claim Jal Acor Jal accidentally shot himself during a struggle over a rifle 'impossible,' a Calgary judge on Monday found a youth guilty of second-degree murder.
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And the convicted killer, now 19, will undergo a psychiatric assessment in advance of a potential Crown application for an adult sentence.
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The offender was just 15 when he met with Jal, 16, at a secluded area near the Crowfoot LRT station in northwest Calgary the evening of March 31, 2022, and shot him in the back of the head.
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While the killer said Jal met with him to see the high-powered rifle he had displayed online, a friend of Jal's family said they dispute that version of how the two teens came to be at that spot.
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The family says Jal went there to buy a pair of sneakers from the offender for $90, cash he had earlier obtained from his mother, the friend said.
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Regardless of the reasons the two met before walking to an LRT substation where Jal was shot, Jeffrey found the killing didn't play out as the youth claimed.
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The offender earlier testified he had handed the gun and two magazine clips to Jal before he began walking away. He told defence lawyer Andrea Urquhart he heard Jal load the weapon before turning towards him at raising it.
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He said he struggled with Jal for possession of the gun, but lost his grip moments before it fired, testifying it was pointed towards Jal's upper chest and head when he last saw it.
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But Jeffrey said expert evidence called by Crown prosecutors Todd Buziak and Tahira Amin made that version of events impossible.
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A pathologist testified Jal was shot in the back of the head with the bullet exiting the front of his face almost perpendicularly to his body.
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And a firearms expert said the bullet fired from the teen offender's Chiappa M1-9 rifle was discharged with the muzzle pressed up against the back of Jal's lower head and testing showed the gun could not fire without significant pressure on the trigger.
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'The end of the gun barrel was pressed right up against the back of (Jal's) head when the fatal shot was fired,' Jeffrey said.
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'There was no space between the end of the firearm barrel and the back of (the victim's) head,' the Calgary Court of King's Bench judge said.
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