Do you think the Crown can prove who delivered the fatal shot.
From the Nanaimo Daily News
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Three men acquitted of beating death at Nanaimo bar
Judge says Crown did not prove who delivered fatal blow
Paul Walton, Nanaimo Daily News
Published: Friday, September 26, 2008
The sobs of Michael Brophy's mother were the only sound in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo on Friday as the three men accused of killing her son were found not guilty of manslaughter.
After several weeks of trial, Justice Doug Halfyard handed down his decision that let Matt Maybin, 25, his brother Tim Maybin, 23, and a former Grizzly B'ar bouncer, Buddha Sadu Gains, 41, whose original name is Steven Allen Gains, walk out of the Nanaimo court house free men.
A distraught Helen Brophy had to leave the courtroom with her daughters, Christine and Avryl Brophy, escorted by deputy sheriffs. While Helen Brophy was too upset to comment, Christine Brophy said outside court that her brother Michael rarely went to bars.
"He wasn't a bargoer," she said. "He was going to be a police officer, he was a training to be a chef."
Brophy died after a fight at the bar just before 2 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2006. Evidence at the trial heard that Brophy and a friend, Troy Grinder, had come to Nanaimo that night from Gabriola Island to cruise bars to meet young women.
Christine Brophy, holding back tears outside the courthouse, said that she and her mother and sister were in shock over the not-guilty findings.
"This is completely unbelievable, we can't believe it," she said.
Christine Brophy said they believed that at least one of the three men would return for sentencing on the manslaughter charge. She said they would be asking the Crown prosectuor to file an appeal.
"I really thought at least one person would be found guilty," she said.
Criminal Justice branch spokesman Stan Lowe said they must study Halfyard's 111-page decision before deciding on an appeal.
"We have 30 days to file notice of an appeal, and we will have a decision within that time," said Lowe.
The Maybins, whisked in and out of a side door of the courthouse by deputy sheriffs before and after the verdict, were unavailable for comment. Gains was also escorted in and out by deputies to avoid reporters and photographers.
By October 2006, the trial heard, the Grizzly B'ar had become notorious for violence at the club, and it was closed permanently five days after Brophy's death. It is now a fitness club. At the trial, the former manager of the bar, Dorothy Fahr, described a scenario where the violence at the club was spiralling out of control.
"The door staff had the feeling that every time you came to work you were in danger. I felt that way," said Fahr.
Christine Brophy said earlier this month that the family intended to file a civil suit once the criminal trial had ended, but provided no further details.
Crown prosecutor Brian Jones said he was surprised by the not-guilty verdicts.
"I'd like to thank the RCMP for their investigation and the community of Nanaimo, especially the young people for coming forward to tell what they knew," said Jones. "It's a demonstration of moral courage."
Though Halfyard found that the Maybins, patrons at the bar, were in a fight with Brophy, and that moments later Gains also hit him as he lay on the pool table in the bar, he also said there was doubt that the assault by Matt Maybin caused Brophy bodily harm.
And though it appeared that the blows by Tim Maybin and Gains did cause bodily harm, he said the Crown did not prove which man inflicted the fatal blow.
"Either one of them could have struck a blow which was the sole cause of the fatal injury," said Halfyard.
Without determining which man inflicted the fatal blow, he said, neither could be convicted. Matt Maybin, he said, could have been convicted as a party only if his brother had been found guilty.
But Halfyard said the trio should and could be brought back to court for assaulting Brophy.
"The accused can, and in my opinion should, be prosecuted for assault causing bodily harm," he said.
Lowe also could not comment on such a charge going ahead, saying that prosecutors wanted to consider both the appeal and all of Halfyard's findings as a whole.
