Guilty on five counts of second-degree murder in drug den slayings

Minutes after being convicted of five counts of second-degree murder, Jamie Felix flew into a fury and punched a Sheriff’s officer in the face after he was told he could not talk to family members in court.

“I just want to say something (to my friends),” Felix said as half a dozen Sheriff’s officers tried to restrain him.

“Stop it, Jamie! Stop it!” the sheriffs shouted before his shirt was ripped off and one officer threatened to pepper spray him.

He was taken out of court minutes later, shirtless, in shackles and handcuffs.

The violent outburst occurred after Court of King’s Bench Justice Alain Huberdeau had closed court and left the room.

Felix, 35, stood trial in the fatal shootings of five people at a Langside Street drug den, Nov. 26, 2023.

Jurors began deliberations Thursday afternoon and delivered their verdict by late afternoon.

Crystal Beardy, 34; her sister Stephanie Beardy, 33; Melelek Lesikel, 29; and Dylan Lavallee, 41, all died at the scene or in hospital a short time later. All four had been shot in the head on Nov. 26, 2023. Lavallee from a range of just six inches.

Shawn Marko, 56, was shot three times and died in hospital 18 months later from pneumonia. A pathologist testified Marko’s death was as a result of complications from his gunshot wounds.

Some family members of the victims yelled at Felix as they were ushered out of the courtroom, while a few of Felix’s supporters, including his former girlfriend, who testified for the Crown, were seen leaving the courthouse in tears.

With their verdict, jurors rejected Felix’s defence team’s claim that it was his father, who died recently, who had orchestrated the killings.

Felix will return to court for sentencing at a later date. The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. Jurors recommended periods of parole ineligibility ranging from 10 years to 25 years.

The Crown argued Felix was driven by paranoia after spending three days drinking and smoking crack at the house.

Jurors heard evidence that on the night of the killings, Felix was joined by his father, Randolph “Chummy” Fagnan, and brother Kyle Houle, both of whom were associated with the gang that operated the “crack shack.”

In front of others in the suite, Felix’s brother gave him a handgun and a bulletproof vest to wear.

Security video captured Felix and Fagnan walking outside to the back lane, where, prosecutors alleged, Fagnan had Felix fire the handgun.

The men returned to the crack house and Felix opened fire on the victims.

Felix’s girlfriend testified he confessed: “I killed people.”

The woman testified Felix had recently relapsed and didn’t want to be at the crack house, “but thought he had nowhere else to go… He said he didn’t feel safe there.”

Felix, who spent several years in the military, felt his father and brother “used (him) as a weapon,” the woman said.

“He said everything was blurring after (the shooting)” and he tried to kill himself, but there were no bullets left in the gun, the woman said.

Court heard Felix suffers from seizures and took medication he knew was not to be mixed with drugs and alcohol.

The woman said Felix has struggled with the death of his twin brother, Johnathen Felix, who was fatally shot following a November 2012 drug deal Jamie told her had been arranged by their father.

Defence lawyer Ted Mariash alleged Randolph Fagnan orchestrated the killings and used his son as a “patsy.”

Mariash argued that when Fagnan had Felix shoot the gun outside, it was a signal to the real killer or killers inside the crack house.

“(Felix) was led back into (the crack house) by his own father, looked at the bodies and heard (Fagnan say): ‘Jamie what have you done?’” Mariash said.

Prosecutor Chantal Boutin said the killings were the culmination of a series of conscious choices by Felix, starting with him accepting a gun and bulletproof vest at the crack house.

“Choices that he now wants you to forget he made, choices that he wants you to doubt,” Boutin said.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca