One guilty, other two acquitted in drive-by shooting

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This article was published 30/01/2020 (2220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A jury has acquitted two of three people arrested in the drive-by killing of Shania Chartrand, convicting only the man prosecutors alleged was the shooter.

Jurors convicted 26-year-old Christopher Ryan St. Paul of second-degree murder, while acquitting co-accused Lacy Sorokowski and Tyrone Chippeway, both 24, of the same charge.

Jurors deliberated for a full day before delivering their verdict shortly after 9 p.m.

Security was high in court, with a dozen sheriff’s officers on hand to ensure no disruptions between Chartrand’s family members and supporters and supporters for the three accused.

Sorokowski cried and smiled at supporters, her hands cupped to her face, as sheriff’s officers escorted her out of court.

Chartrand, 21, died after suffering a single gunshot wound to the chest outside a Spence Street rooming house, March 12, 2017.

Prosecutors had alleged the three accused plotted to kill Chartrand, believing she had set St. Paul and Sorokowski up to be robbed of drugs. Prosecutors argued Chippeway, Chartrand’s cousin, texted Chartrand from a remote location and lured her outside while Sorokowski circled the block in a car with St. Paul, the gunman and Chartrand’s ex-boyfriend, and a fourth suspect, Ashley Bezecki.

But Sorokowski, the only one of the three accused to testify, told jurors there was no plot to kill Chartrand, alleging Bezecki was getting out of the car to assault Chartrand when St. Paul, without warning, pulled out a gun and shot her from inside the car.

St. Paul’s defence was weakened by testimony from his sister, who told jurors he admitted to shooting Chartrand.

Chippeway’s lawyers argued their client was also unaware of any intention to kill Chartrand and did not know St. Paul had a gun.

“It’s not nice to lure your cousin outside, believing there is going to be a fight, but that’s the plan that happened,” lawyer Matt Gould told jurors in a closing argument Tuesday.

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

Bezecki, 30, pleaded guilty to manslaughter for her part in the killing and was sentenced to five years in prison.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca