Trial underway for 2 men shot in Christmas Day altercation
Steve Bruce, Sally Pitt | CBC News | Posted: April 19, 2017 9:00 PM | Last Updated: April 19, 2017
Other man sentenced in case now testifying as witness
Just months after being sentenced to one year in jail for his role in a Christmas Day shooting in 2015, Matthew Brian Misener was back in court, this time testifying as a witness in the case against the two men shot at his Pleasant Grove, P.E.I. home early that day.
Brodie Joseph McQuaid, 25, and Matthew Lindsey Eric Clarke, 30, are on trial in Charlottetown, both facing charges of assault and break and enter.
In P.E.I. Supreme Court Wednesday, Misener testified that McQuaid was a "friend" of his, and Clarke an "acquaintance" prior to the altercation in the early hours of Christmas morning, 2015.
'Unfriendly messages'
Misener said in the three years he'd lived at his Pleasant Grove home, Clarke had never visited him there. But Misener said that changed early Christmas morning after he received a series of "unfriendly" Facebook messages.
"I seen the lights coming up the driveway at the bottom of the hill. I knew I didn't invite anyone over. I figured it was Matt Clarke," Misener told court.
Misener testified that he saw two men get out of the car. He said he grabbed a rifle and tried to fire off a couple of warning shots out the kitchen window, but the gun didn't fire and the men kept coming.
'I'm not sure who threw the first punch'
Misener told the court the two men entered his house, uninvited, and he and a friend ended up in an altercation with them.
"He came at me. I'm not sure who threw the first punch. It happened pretty fast."
"Brodie had me over the back of the couch, strangling me," testified Misener. "I was face up, and I was swinging with my right hand. I remember swinging upwards towards the ceiling."
It was during that fight that his gun went off, said Misener, although he insisted he didn't intend to shoot McQuaid
"When Brodie fell to the floor, I thought he was dead. I got up and went to the kitchen and after being strangled, I was out of breath," Misener told the court.
It was then, he said, that he went to help his friend, who was taking a beating from Clarke.
"I didn't think I could take on Matt Clarke, so I shot him in the buttocks. Then I hit him over the head with the gun."
Misener was sentenced in February to a year in jail for his role in the shooting.
Trial scheduled to continue for 3 more days
The defence questioned Misener's credibility, pointing to his alcohol and drug use in the weeks leading up to the incident, and to the fact that after the shooting, he tried to hide his guns in the woods.
The defence also questioned just how unexpected Clarke and McQuaid's arrival really was that day, pointing to the fact Misener had been warned people were coming in a message and had started to get his guns ready.
The trial is slated to last three more days.
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS | P.E.I. oysters safe to eat, Aquaculture Alliance says
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS | P.E.I. financial adviser James Wood fined $40K, suspended