Trent Hynne bragged after fatally stabbing victim, Crown says at murder trial
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: November 8, 2016 12:30 AM | Last Updated: November 8, 2016
Juliano Crawford-Vieira was a grade 11 student when he was stabbed to death in 2014
After fatally stabbing Juliano Crawford-Vieira, Trent Hynne bragged about it, threatened witnesses and then tried to conceal evidence, said prosecutor Meagan Blake in her opening statement on the first day of trial.
Hynne is charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder after Crawford-Vieira died outside a house party in Calgary in March 2014.
Two groups of friends from Lord Beaverbrook and Henry Wise Wood High Schools had been feuding for weeks when members of those groups turned up at the same party on Braniff Road S.W., according to the Crown.
"As alcohol was added to the mix, tension rose and a shouting match took place in the basement," said Blake.
After an initial fight inside the house, party-goers were kicked out, taking their conflict to the street where a "screaming match" quickly escalated into a physical fight.
Just minutes later, Orest Tako, one of the men stabbed, called 911 as Crawford-Vieira lay dying on the street from four stab wounds.
"[Crawford-Vieira] took his last breath as the EMT arrived," said Blake.
Hynne not only confessed to the stabbings that left Crawford-Vieira dead and Tako injured, he bragged about it, according to Blake.
The prosecutor also told Court of Queen's Bench Justice Rosemary Nation that Hynne threatened witnesses, warning "that if they said what they knew, he would kill them, too."
Two bystanders were using their cellphones to take video of the incident, and that footage will be called as evidence later in the trial.
Defence lawyer Gavin Wolch is representing Hynne.
A second man, Roland Smith, was also charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder, but the prosecution indicated he will plead guilty to accessory after the fact to murder next month.
In June, two teens were found guilty of manslaughter in Crawford-Vieira's death. They cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The trial is set to last three weeks.