Lukas Strasser-Hird murder trial jury begins deliberations

Jurors heard 6 weeks of evidence from more than 80 witnesses

Image | Lukas Strasser-Hird

Caption: Lukas Strasser-Hird died after he was assaulted outside a nightclub in November 2013. (Facebook)

After six weeks of evidence, the fate of four young men accused of killing Lukas Strasser-Hird is now in the hands of jurors.
Joch Pouk, Assmar Shlah, Jordan Liao and Franz Cabrera are each charged with second-degree murder.
A fifth man, Nathan Gervais, was charged with first-degree murder, but disappeared weeks before the trial began while on bail and remains at large.
On Monday, Justice Glen Poelman spent three hours charging the jury; explaining how to examine the evidence and the potential verdicts they can reach.
Now that the jury is sequestered until a verdict is reached, media outlets were granted access to a number of videos that were played by the Crown earlier in the trial.
They were taken at the Vinyl Nightclub and show the movements of the accused and victim the night he was killed.
Strasser-Hird is marked in the videos by a white arrow while the accused are pointed out by a yellow arrow.
The videos depict the initial confrontation that took place in front of the nightclub involving Strasser-Hird and a number of others.
Bouncers then escort the victim through the club and into the back alley where he is attacked by a swarm of people, kicked in the head and stabbed to death.
What jurors did not hear was that after the Crown finished presenting its case, lawyers for each of the accused made directed verdict applications on June 2.
Pouk's lawyer, David Chow and Cabrera's lawyer, Gavin Wolch both asked Poelman to instruct jurors to acquit their clients of second-degree murder and return verdicts of manslaughter instead.
Ryan Claxton who represents Liao and Balfour Der who acts for Shlah, both proposed outright acquittals.
Poelman dismissed the applications on June 6.
Strasser-Hird's DNA was found on Cabrera's jacket, Shlah's shoes and one of Pouk's shoes.
Jurors typically deliberate until about 9 p.m.