3 Toronto men guilty of 1st-degree murder of 12-year-old boy struck by stray bullet in 2020
Three men on trial for the first-degree murder of 12-year-old Dante Andreatta, who was killed by a stray bullet while walking on Jane Street near Finch Avenue West on Nov. 7, 2020, have been found guilty.
The jury also found Rashawn Chambers, Jahwayne Smart, and Cjay Hobbs guilty of five counts of attempted murder in relation to five occupants of a Honda Accord who were being shot at that day.
The jury returned with it's verdict at 1 p.m. on Saturday, on its fifth day of deliberations following the five-week trial that began in April.
The fatal shooting shocked the city at the time because it involved an innocent child who was walking home from a McDonald's restaurant with his mother when he was shot.
In the Crown's closing arguments, assistant Crown attorney Arian Khader argued Chambers, Smart and Hobbs went to 25 Stong Ct. in a stolen vehicle, wearing masks and gloves, to commit murder.
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The Crown said the fact that Smart and Chambers fired 36 rounds at the Honda Accord was powerful evidence the three accused went there to carry out a murder and called the defence theory that they were there to do a drug rip off 'far-fetched.'
Khader told jurors that without Deshawn Daley's testimony about a gun, the defence would have no case. Daley, who the jury heard is in jail for a series of break and enters, testified he pointed a gun out the passenger side window of the Honda when he saw a man running towards the car.
Daley said he didn't know the man but thought he saw a bulge in his sweater. He told the jury that after shots rang out, he pulled the gun in and rolled up the window.
The Crown said the video evidence does not support Daley's version of events and argued Daley did not have a gun, given none of the eyewitnesses testified to seeing it. The Crown also said the gun could not have been sticking out of the window, given video surveillance showed the passenger window was fully closed.
The Crown told the jury Daley should not be believed because what he said was impossible. Daley testified he is scared of people coming after him in jail, which is why the Crown said Daley gave favourable evidence to the accused, to mitigate his role in a conviction.
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The Crown also argued Smart and Chambers could not have reacted as quickly as they did, letting off 18 rounds each, telling the jury this was a carefully planned and choreographed hit.
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In their closing arguments, Rashawn Chambers' lawyers Monte MacGregor and Amanda Warth argued their client did not commit first-degree murder, nor did he attempt to murder any of the occupants in the silver Honda, calling it a 'chance encounter.'
Chambers testified they were drug dealers who went to Stong Court to rip off another drug dealer who believed he was buying a kilogram of cocaine for $60,000.
Due to an apparent shortage of cocaine during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chambers said they were planning to give the dealer baking soda packed like a brick of cocaine instead.
'He believed his friend was shot. He believed he was going to be run down as the silver Honda raced towards him. He freaked out and lost control. He shot instinctively, grabbing the gun from his waist and firing. This whole incident lasted for seven seconds,' said MacGregor.
MacGregor told the jury if they don't find self-defence applies and Chambers' actions were excessive, he can only be guilty of manslaughter.
Richard Posner, Smart's lawyer, argued Smart, who has also admitted to being one of the two shooters, also acted in self-defence when he fired his gun. Posner said Smart was shot at as a 14-year-old child, when he was almost killed lying in bed, and his instinct was to fight not take flight.
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Smart, also an admitted drug dealer, testified he always carried a handgun and was not carrying a gun with him to kill anyone that day. The shooting was not arbitrary, Posner told the jury, but a reaction to a Glock 26 handgun being pointed towards him.
Smart and Chambers testified they got out of the car to prove to Hobbs, who was driving, the occupants of the Honda were not connected to a man named 'KD.'
Hobbs had arranged for them to sell the fake cocaine to KD through another friend named Baby, but Hobbs had never met KD before and only knew he was driving a silver Nissan. Smart and Chambers told Hobbs it was the wrong make and model of car and thought the occupants looked like kids. Posner also argued the video evidence was not consistent with a planned ambush.
Hobbs' lawyer Craig Zee said his client should be acquitted of all charges, arguing all three were acting in lawful self-defence when Daley pointed a loaded Glock out of the window. Zee called the Crown's theory that it was planned 'purely speculative,' and because the accused did not know the occupants of the Honda, there was no reason to target anyone involved.
Zee also urged jurors to believe Daley, who never told police about the gun before because he wanted to clear his conscience. His testimony was corroborated by the three accused.
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Superior Court Justice Joan Barrett said for Smart and Chambers to be found guilty of first-degree murder, the jury had to be satisfied that the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt the shooting was both planned and deliberate, and they had the state of mind required for murder.
Barrett explained for Hobbs, who was driving, to be found guilty of first-degree murder, the Crown had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hobbs knew Smart and Chambers intended to use their firearms, would have perceived bodily harm and drove to 25 Stong Ct. that day to assist in this deliberate act. The Crown must also have proved that he aided them knowing that one or both had the state of mind for murder,
The jury did not hear that Smart had a previous conviction for manslaughter from 2013 after a fatal shooting. He was sentenced to 58 days in custody after 672 days of pre-sentence custody and a one-year conditional supervision order. Smart's manslaughter conviction was excluded after the defence successfully argued on a Corbett application. Once Barrett ruled on excluding the manslaughter conviction, Smart testified in his own defence.
The jury also did not hear that Hobbs was convicted of second-degree murder for a shooting outside the Bisha Hotel on May 26, 2020. Hobbs was driving the getaway car when Dimarjio Jenkins, also known as the rapper Houdini, was fatally shot. Hobbs was sentenced in March 2024 to a life sentence with a parole ineligibility period of 15 years.
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The jury also did not hear that roughly 12 hours before Dante Andreatta was shot, there was a shooting outside a motel in Brantford. No one was injured but at the time, but police described the shooting as targeted. Chambers, Smart and Hobbs were charged in relation to that shooting but the charges were later stayed. The Crown in this case did not bring an application to tender evidence of that shooting.
A sentencing hearing has been set for July. First-degree murder is a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. The issue a judge must decide on is the sentence for the five counts of attempted murder. Those sentences will run concurrent to the life sentence.
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ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Khader told the jury Chambers, Smart and Daley all lied in court. The defendants were trying to absolve themselves from blame. Daley lied because he 'was scared for his life. He was shot four times and almost died,' said Khader, who prosecuted the case with veteran Patrick Clement. 'There was no gun, they weren't provoked it is what it looks like: a cold-blooded murder,' Khader said. He urged the jury to study surveillance videos that captured the two men chasing and firing their guns at the Honda as it pulled away. 'Neither of them are reacting to something scary,' the prosecutor said, 'this was planned from the get-go.' Surveillance footage from Nov. 7, 2020, shows the shooting that killed 12-year-old bystander Dante Andreatta, who was out walking with his mom on the far sidewalk of Jane Street, in North York. The video shows gunmen Rashawn Chambers and Jahwayne Smart opening fire on a car containing five teens. At trial, Chambers and Smart have testified they fired in response to a gun being waved in their direction. He also explained the concept of 'transferred intent.' Smart and Chambers did not need to have the intent to kill Andreatta in order to be found guilty of murder. If Smart or Chambers were trying to kill someone in the Honda, and in doing so accidentally killed the boy, they are guilty of murder, Khader said. The jury retired to deliberate midday Tuesday after listening to Superior Court Justice Joan Barrett's 300-page charge. Dante Andreatta, 12, was shot by a stray bullet while out walking with his mom. He died in hospital on Nov. 11, 2020. GoFundMe Khader also told jurors in his closing address that their job was not to find the motive. Nor are prosecutors permitted to 'speculate' on one. Nonetheless, Khader noted that many 'senseless' murders happen in Toronto, sometimes over mistaken identity. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'There is no rationalizing murder,' Khader said as the defendants hunched forward in the prisoner box. He didn't mention that many homicides and shootings in Toronto involve complex gang dynamics and that acts of violence are rarely random and often stem from escalating cycles of retaliation, fear and long-standing rivalries. Some perceived disputes stretch back decades and, increasingly, have grown to involve innocent victims targeted for no reason other than where they live. The teen driver of the Honda was aware of this. He told police that while he and his friends sat in the Honda, he noticed a car entering the parking lot and packed with men 'masked up.' 'People do that stuff, they shoot innocent people.' If the jury accepted the defence claim the pair acted in self-defence, they could have been acquitted. Defence lawyers also asked jurors to consider the defence of provocation — because of the purported gun that Daley pointed — and find them guilty of manslaughter. In court, Smart testified he was shot multiple times when he was 14, lying in bed in Regent Park; seeing a gun made him panic and freak out. 'I went after the car with a mix of fear and anger, and seeing red.' Gta Toronto gunman says he's 'ashamed and sad' 12-year-old Dante Andreatta was killed by stray bullet It was fight or flight, gunman Jahwayne Smart explained in court on Tuesday. 'I didn't want to Chambers was nearby when Smart, his cousin, was shot. He also 'freaked out and lost control,' his lawyer, Monte MacGregor, argued in his closing address. MacGregor, who specializes in murder cases, was co-counsel with Amanda Warth. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW What the jury didn't hear The trial began about a month ago. In the early days, defence lawyer Richard Posner, who represented Smart, produced a copy of a text the juror sent to someone saying, 'They going down.' The judge gave the sheepish juror a stern rebuke before dismissing him. Closing arguments sparked legal clashes after Posner suggested a bullet fired from Smart's gun couldn't have possibly killed the little boy, and that his criminal record supports that he isn't violent. The judge instructed jurors to disregard the suggestion that Chambers' gun fired the killing shot, saying no determination could be made. She denied a prosecution request, however, that the jury learn of Smart's previous conviction for manslaughter because of the way Posner had portrayed his client. Jurors also did not hear that the three were suspects in two other shootings in the days leading up to Nov. 7, one in Brantford, Ont., — where the targeted person was affiliated with the Driftwood Crips; the other at 390 Driftwood Ave., about a three-minute drive from 25 Stong Court. (Charges laid against Chambers, Hobbs and Smart in the Brantford shooting were withdrawn; no charges were laid in the shooting at 390 Driftwood.) The defendants were faced with overwhelming evidence collected by Toronto police that forced Chambers and Smart to admit they were the shooters. It included extensive surveillance footage, digital evidence, Chamber's fingerprint on the Honda they used to get to and from the crime scene, and the fact Chambers and Smart were arrested outside a downtown Canadian Tire with the murder weapons. (Smart didn't concede his ID, however, until midway through the trial.) Their concession meant that prosecutors put in much of the evidence via an agreed statement of facts. In 2023, a jury convicted Hobbs of second-degree murder for his role in the daylight shooting of Dimarjio Jenkins in Toronto's entertainment district on May 26, 2020. The rising star in Toronto's underground rap scene performed as the Houdini, often featuring on songs with other rappers based out of the Driftwood area north of Jane and Finch. Similar to this case, Hobbs was the getaway driver; the shooter has never been identified. Khader, who prosecuted both cases, called the killing of 21-year-old Jenkins an 'orchestrated assassination.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Gta Getaway driver — also accused in killing of 12-year-old boy — guilty in murder of rising Toronto rap star Houdini The verdict came on the third anniversary of the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Dante Andreatta Marroquin. Driver Cjay Hobbs is still facing a Gta Getaway driver — also accused in killing of 12-year-old boy — guilty in murder of rising Toronto rap star Houdini The verdict came on the third anniversary of the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Dante Andreatta Marroquin. Driver Cjay Hobbs is still facing a Hobbs testified at that trial that he was on Blue Jays Way near King Street waiting to sell a kilogram of cocaine with another man who opened fire when he realized they were about to be robbed. He did not take the stand at this just-completed trial where he was represented by Craig Zeeh. The jury heard only a passing mention to Smart's brother, Jahvante Smart, the rapper Smoke Dawg. In June 2018, he was murdered in a chaotic daylight double killing on Queen Street West by a gunman who grew up in the same Driftwood neighbourhood where Andreatta would be shot two years later. Gta Gunman guilty of double murder in Queen St. killing of popular Toronto rapper Smoke Dawg Abdulkadir Handule, 26, has been convicted on two counts of second-degree murder for killing Jahvante Smart and Ernest Modekwe in a shocking Gta Gunman guilty of double murder in Queen St. killing of popular Toronto rapper Smoke Dawg Abdulkadir Handule, 26, has been convicted on two counts of second-degree murder for killing Jahvante Smart and Ernest Modekwe in a shocking Four of the five teens shot in the Stong Court parking lot came to court and testified. The driver did not. He died from a drug overdose. The 12-year-old victim's name was rarely mentioned in the course of evidence. Family members attended court daily and sobbed quietly when video surveillance of the shooting played in court. On Nov. 7, 2020, around 2 p.m., Karla Marroquin and her son were walking northbound on the west side of Jane Street, north of Finch Avenue W. They were coming from the FreshCo at the Jane and Finch Mall. When they reached Stong Court, Marroquin heard a noise that sounded like fireworks. Bullets were flying and she felt a 'burning' on her back. She turned and saw Dante on the ground. He had been hit in the neck by a stray bullet. She called 911 and put her hands over his neck to try to control the bleeding, she told police in a recorded statement. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW He was rushed to SickKids Hospital where he died on Nov. 11. Punishment for a first-degree murder conviction is an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Sentencing is set for July 3.
