Prince George, B.C.- Defence Lawyer James Heller has called upon the jury  in the trial of his client Cody Alan Legebokoff,  to find his client guilty of second degree murder. “That is unusual” said Heller “but it it is my position none the less.”

Legebokoff is  charged with  four counts of first degree murder, Heller asked the 14  jury members to consider that  while  Legebokoff’s  testimony was  incriminating,  it “doesn’t get him off the hook.”

Legebokoff had testified  all three had been murdered because of drug debts.  Heller then walked the jury though  previous testimony about the drug use  of  three of the victims,   how Jill Stuchenko  had been bailed out of a drug debt by a friend,  that Natasha Montgomery had been beaten and had her head shaved by drug dealers because of a drug debt, and that Cynthia Maas also had a drug habit.

Heller pointed out testimony from other witnesses who acknowledged the violence being used by gangs in Prince George to recover money owed to them.

It was Legebokoff’s testimony that 15  year old Loren Leslie had beaten herself in the face with a wrench, then stabbed herself in the neck.  Legebokoff had admitted to hitting her with a wrench once or twice. Heller reminded the jury  that Loren Leslie had  suffered from  mental health issues which   saw her  cutting herself,   hospitalized  and on medication.

Through  the closing statements, the 14 member jury sat focused on Heller, heads tilted, some taking notes.  All the while, the accused,  now  sporting a plain goatee (the chin strap beard that had defined his  jaw line  gone) sat with head cocked, listening to the argument being  made by his lawyer.

Heller  told the Jury that  everyone expresses themselves differently “I would suggest he has expressed remorse, in his own honest taciturn way, he has expressed remorse.”

The Crown will  deliver its closing remarks after which  Justice Glen Parrett will issue his instructions to the Jury before the Jury retires to  deliberate.