Jury convicts shooter of second-degree murder for deadly response to punch in the face

A jury has found a Winnipeg man guilty of second-degree murder after he responded to a punch to his face with fatal gunfire.

Jurors deliberated for one day before delivering their verdict Tuesday afternoon convicting Adam Morrissette in the April 2024 killing of 28-year-old Bill Brian Duck.

Morrissette, 52, will return to court for sentencing on June 26. He remains in custody.

The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Jurors heard evidence at trial Morrissette and three friends pulled up to another friend’s Flora Avenue home just two doors over from where Duck was standing outside with a friend when Duck, “in an intoxicated state,” walked up to Morrissette and said something before punching him in the face and walking away.

A witness testified Morrissette pulled out a gun, said, “Somebody needs to be shot,” and shot Duck.

Morrissette denied having a gun and claimed in a police statement that after Duck punched him, he ushered a female friend to her house door when he heard a shot.

Prosecutors argued the testimony of two defence witnesses who said Morrissette did not shoot the victim contradicted each other’s evidence as well as Morrissette’s.

Another witness testified Morrissette later told him he did fire a gun but didn’t hit anybody.

After he was shot, Duck staggered back to his friend’s home and collapsed at the front door before being taken inside. Police and paramedics arrived minutes later, and Duck was rushed to Health Sciences Centre, where he died.

Police arrested Morrissette nine days later, after stopping him for an unrelated matter near the intersection of Burrows Avenue and McKenzie Street.

A subsequent analysis of his cellphone revealed text exchanges between Morrissette and another party discussing the cash purchase of a Glock handgun.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca