Jury convicts Gimli man of murder in shooting of 20-year-old woman

A jury has convicted a Gimli man of second-degree murder in the roadside shooting death of 20-year-old Hailey Dugay.

Jurors reached a verdict just before midnight following more than 10 hours of deliberations.

Jurors rejected a claim by William Comber’s lawyers that another man initially arrested in the shooting who spent nine months in jail was responsible for Dugay’s death.

Comber, 23, will be sentenced at a later date. The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years

In a closing argument Wednesday, defence lawyer Martin Glazer alleged police “bungled” the investigation after concluding another man arrested in the shooting, Jesse Paluk, had not fired the killing shot.

Prosecutors alleged Paluk was standing in the middle of the road, “menacing” approaching vehicles with a rifle, but it was Comber, hidden by darkness on the side of the road, who fired at Dugay’s truck.

Paluk testified at trial he fired a few shots into the air or into the bush from his Remington rifle, but none at a vehicle – that was Comber.

Glazer argued Paluk did not want to go back to jail and had “every reason to lie” on the witness stand.

“How is it that after nine months in custody, Jesse Paluk is all of a sudden an honest and credible star witness for the prosecution?” Glazer said. “One day he is an accused murderer, the next day he is testifying for the Crown. The answer is simple: he is neither credible nor honest.”

Jurors heard testimony Paluk and Comber had been out hunting the day of the killing, without success, and still had their rifles with them when they and one of Comber’s friends pulled in to the Fraserwood Hotel bar later that evening.

Paluk started a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, hitting the man in the head with a beer bottle.

Paluk was on the losing end of the fight, and received no backup from Comber and his friend, jurors were told. Paluk was kicked out of the bar, which closed a short time later because of the fight.

Paluk, followed by Comber and his friend in another truck, drove off and pulled over on the side of a gravel road to relieve himself, when he saw three trucks approaching in the distance.

Paluk, fearing he was going to suffer a second beating, stood in the middle of the road with his rifle and told Comber and his friend to “have (his) back.”

Dugay and her boyfriend Branden Harasymko were also at the Fraserwood Hotel bar that night. Harasymko testified he, Dugay and a couple of friends were driving to another friend’s house when from a distance he saw Paluk in the middle of the gravel road, holding a rifle.

”I rolled down my window, he looks at me and says: ‘Just keep going,’” he said.

Harasymko said he sped off and within seconds heard four or five gunshots in rapid succession. One of the shots penetrated the truck cab, hitting Dugay in the rear driver-side seat.

Harasymko drove to Teulon hospital, but Dugay died before they got there, jurors heard.

Paluk, Comber and his friend drove to Comber’s home where they fled on foot after police closed in. They were arrested a short time later. Police charged Paluk with murder after finding his rifle and ammunition strewn in his truck.

Police recovered five shell casings from the middle of the road matching Paluk’s rifle, and another three shell casings that had been fired from a different rifle about 10 feet away on the side of the road.

Paluk was released from custody and the murder charge against him was dropped after police confirmed the bullet that killed Dugay was not fired from Paluk’s rifle.

The rifle used to kill Dugay has never been found.

Glazer alleged Paluk fired shots from two rifles that night, and got rid of the murder weapon before police could find it.

The defence called a witness who claimed Paluk told him: “I was in for a body, but I got rid of the strap just in time.”

Details that might reveal the witnesses identity cannot be disclosed under terms of a court-ordered publication ban.

Glazer said the witness had nothing to gain by testifying and selected Paluk’s picture from a photo lineup.

Paluk testified he had never met the man.

Crown attorney Daniel Chaput rejected the man’s testimony, dismissing him as a “professional criminal” who “doesn’t know the meaning of the words ‘right’ and ‘justice.’”

Chaput said text messages between Comber and a friend present at the time of the shooting confirmed his plan to go hunting that day. Chaput said jurors should “accept as fact” that there were only two rifles in Paluk’s truck – one belonging to Paluk, and one belonging to Comber.

“Jesse Paluk didn’t need a second gun,” Chaput said. Why would he? He only needed one gun to hunt deer.”

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None of the witnesses who heard shots as they drove past Paluk said they saw him firing his rifle. Chaput said it was “no wonder” no one noticed Comber on the side of the road as they passed.

“When you see a man in the middle of the road with a gun, where are you going to look,” he said.

It was open to jurors to find Comber guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Chaput urged jurors to reject a finding of manslaughter, saying Comber, an experienced hunter would have been fully aware of the consequences of firing at a moving vehicle.