Pynn-Butler trial: 10 key things to know before final arguments
On Monday, jurors in Philip Pynn's and Lyndon Butler's second-degree murder trial will hear final summations from the Crown prosecutors and the defence.
Following that, Justice James Adams will instruct the eight women and four men before they begin deliberations. Here is some of what the jurors were presented with during the six weeks of testimony.
1. Nick Winsor released from prison
Throughout the course of the trial, the jury has heard very little about the man whose death is central to the case. Nick Winsor, 20, was killed by a shot to the throat in a garage on Portugal Cove Road in July 2011. The jury has heard that Winsor and Philip Pynn — who is accused of shooting him — were long-time friends, whose families were close. On June 29, 2011 Winsor is seen on surveillance footage being released from custody at Her Majesty's Penitentiary on Forest Road in St. John's. Pynn was waiting for Winsor's release outside prison walls in a white limousine. Later that day, the limo was picked up by security cameras, parked outside the Gold Factory on Elizabeth Avenue. According to the owner of the store, Pynn and Winsor inquired about a gold chain belonging to Tom "Billy" Power. The Crown says this started off a chain of events that eventually led to Winsor's death.
2. The shooting
Around 10:30 p.m. on July 9, 2011, Tom "Billy" Power walked to his stand-alone garage with three men, who, according to Power, arrived unexpectedly at his home on Portugal Cove Road. He said he was curious as to what they wanted, and he soon found out. According to Power, he was beaten over the head with a pipe by a man he identified as Lyndon Butler. According to Power, Philip Pynn pulled a shotgun out from Nick Winsor's pant and aimed it at Power's stomach. During the struggle for control of the shotgun, Power said, a single shot was fired. Winsor was killed instantly.
3. Philip Pynn's arrest
A heavily armed tactical response unit with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary arrested Pynn in the afternoon of July 11, two days after Winsor was killed. The arrest was not what Pynn, nor his lawyer Averill Baker, was expecting. Baker made an arrangement with then-Const. Tom Warren via telephone earlier in the day that Pynn would go willingly to RNC headquarters. But police didn't wait — they arrested him at the end of Baker's driveway. An officer with the force's mobile surveillance unit said he watched as Baker kissed Pynn before the arrest, and saw when the well-known lawyer started to cry hysterically in her driveway after his capture.
4. Photo lineup
During Power's five-day testimony on the stand, he was questioned about how he identified Butler as the man who hit him repeatedly over the head with a steel pipe, leaving a gash that needed staples. No weapon was ever found. The jury was told that Power could not pick Butler out of a photo lineup in the days following the killing in Power's garage. It wasn't until his stepdaughter Megan Reddigan showed him pictures of Butler from Facebook that an identification was made. Still, Power is adamant it was Butler who accompanied Pynn and Winsor to his home that night.
5. Text messages and phone records
Phone records obtained from Telus and Bell Mobility document phone calls and text messages that were sent and received from an iPhone seized from Butler. According to the document, calls from the seized phone were made to and received from Pynn's then-girlfriend Allyson Hatcher. Hatcher had testified that other people, including Pynn, had access to her phone.
The document also showed that Winsor's mother Donna Pardy received a phone call from Butler's phone the day after her son's death. She said that Pynn was the person on the other end of the line.
6. Accessory after the fact
On April 12, 2012, nearly a year after the shooting, Jonathan Rowe was arrested and charged with accessory after the fact; court documents indicate that Rowe is alleged to have helped Pynn escape following Winsor's death.
When Rowe got on the stand, as a subpoenaed witness for the Crown, he insisted he did nothing wrong. Rowe said that he brought Averill Baker to Pynn the day after the shooting.
7. Fourth person charged
A month before the long-awaited trial was set to begin, the RNC announced it had made a fourth arrest in Winsor's homicide case. Allyson Hatcher, 24, who had no criminal record until now, was charged with accessory after the fact. Hatcher had been dating Pynn for nine days before the shooting. Like Rowe, Hatcher is alleged to have helped Pynn escape following Winsor's death. Hatcher testified that Pynn and Butler arrived at her home in the Shea Heights neighbourhood of St. John's early in the morning on July 10, hours after Winsor's death.
8. Billy Power's confession
Power, 40, whose testimony is integral to the Crown's case, made a last minute admission to the police on Sept. 5 —mere days before the trial was set to begin. Power gave police a witness statement, which cannot be used against him in court, admitting that he stashed marijuana in bags removed from his house the night of the shooting. That last minute confession gave the defence ammunition to frame Power as an unreliable witness, who told a lie to save his own skin.
9. Deal? What deal?
The defence questioned Hatcher and Power while they were on the witness stand about the possibility of them being offered a deal by police to give a statement. Both witnesses strongly rejected the suggestion. But when Sgt. Tom Warren took the stand, as the last witness for the Crown, the defence grilled him over allegations of arrangements that were made. It was suggested that Warren got information from Power on the case, and in exchange Warren allowed the key witness to admit to lying to police through a witness statement. Warren denied making any deals with Power.
10. Who shot the gun?
Power, for his first time on the witness stand in front of the 12-person jury, pointed to Pynn as the man who pulled the trigger. Wearing the same gold chain that the Crown said made him a target in July 2011, Power looked over to the prisoner's dock and pointed a finger at Pynn, announcing to the court that it was him who shot the gun that killed Winsor.
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