Penticton man acquitted of 2006 murder

Douglas Smith is quickly taken to a waiting vehicle at the back door of the Penticton Court House by his lawyer Simon Buck Tuesday after he was acquitted of second degree murder earlier in the day.

The man charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Jason Smith has been acquitted.

Tensions were high in the Penticton court house Tuesday after the 12-member jury charged with determining whether Douglas Smith intended to kill Jason Smith when he stabbed him 12 times at the Lancaster Apartments July 14, 2006, came back with a not guilty verdict. Douglas Smith was also found not guilty on the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The family of Jason Smith stormed out of the court house Tuesday afternoon, adding that they would not be commenting on the decision. The family then waited in the front of the courthouse, as lawyers and sheriffs whisked Douglas out the back and into an awaiting vehicle. Douglas had been in police custody for almost two years.

“I am really happy for Doug because as you can imagine he has been under a lot of stress,” said his lawyer Simon Buck, following the verdict.

Buck said he was not surprised with how quickly the jury came back with their decision, adding that he believed Doug’s self-defence case was strong.

“He was justified in what he had done,” said Buck. “The evidence pointed strongly to a not guilty verdict.”

While the stabbing itself was not contested — Douglas Smith admitted to it several times in both a recorded statement and live testimony — it was the mindset of the accused and whether he intended to kill Jason that was of issue.

According to Buck, the most compelling testimony came from the accused and his former girlfriend Dawn Coburn.

In his closing arguments Monday morning Buck outlined how much of their testimony supported his self defence case.

Buck told the jury that Jason Smith had been on a “rampage” on July 13, 2006, looking for his ex-girlfriend Coburn and her then-boyfriend Doug. He pointed to testimony that Coburn had received a warning call indicating Jason was searching for her and may be in possession of a knife. He had already assaulted a mutual friend.

It was following this “serious warning” that the couple determined they would need to leave the Pass Motor Inn, where they had been living, and seek refuge with a friend at the Lancaster Apartments. Before they left, Doug grabbed two butcher knives.

It was at Lancaster Apartments where Doug and Coburn ran into Jason in what Buck said was an intentional meeting.

“This was not some misguided collision,” said Buck, adding that Jason didn’t just happen upon the couple but had been actively seeking them out over the course of the day for a confrontation. Buck said it was only after Jason lunged at Doug cornering him in an alcove, that Doug pulled out the butcher knife and began hitting Jason on the head with the wooden handle.

Doug had testified that he then “stuck him a couple of times,” as a way to fend Jason off.

“I was not trying to hurt him. I just wanted him to stay away,” Doug testified.

Only one of the 12 stab wounds inflicted by Doug was deep enough to reach Jason’s heart. The others measured only about a centimetre deep.

As well as defending himself from Jason, Buck said Doug was also protecting Coburn. She had told the court of the extensive violent abuse she had endured at the hands of Jason during their two-year relationship.

Furthermore, Buck said, after Doug realized he had fatally wounded the other man he did not run away, but waited for police and even pointed out the murder weapon.

“His conduct demonstrates that he was justified in what he did,” said Buck, adding “He did what he did out of need.”

John Swanson, Crown counsel, argued that Doug had taken the two knives to the Lancaster Apartments with a “sinister purpose.” Swanson said Doug wanted to kill Jason — the man who had been mean to his girlfriend Coburn and who’d been a bully to Doug and his friends.

Swanson also pointed to Doug Smith’s statement during the stabbing “Jason you .. idiot you’re dead,” as well as his conduct afterward — giving away two of the knives he was carrying before hugging Coburn and saying he would be going to jail for a long time — as actions of someone who knew he had done something wrong.

After the verdict, Swanson said the jury had a difficult decision to make, and along with murder and manslaughter had to consider the evidence against three different self-defence sections in the Criminal Code.

‘I think it’s a verdict that the jury worked very hard on,” he said. “They obviously felt there was a reasonable doubt.”

He was not yet clear whether the Crown would be appealing the decision.