A jury in Cayuga, Ont., is deliberating on whether Randall McKenzie and Brandy Stewart-Sperry are guilty of murdering Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala.
Both have pleaded not guilty in the Dec. 27, 2022, roadside shooting of the 28-year-old officer, who responded to the co-accused crashing a stolen car into a ditch outside Hagersville.
Their Superior Court trial began in late March and heard from multiple witnesses, including several who were at the scene of the shooting, police involved in the response, and experts on topics including digital video, toxicology and DNA.
The 12 jurors began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
During the trial, Crown prosecutors argued McKenzie shot Pierzchala, and Stewart-Sperry helped him. Neither of the co-accused took the stand.
McKenzie’s defence told the jury there should be reasonable doubt as to whether McKenzie was the shooter captured on the officer’s bodycam as he shot the man six times.
Stewart-Sperry’s defence argued she was not a participant in the crime and that prosecutors’ evidence of her willing participation was “nothing more than speculation and conjecture.”
Justice Andrew Goodman charged the jury over two days, instructing them in how to apply the law as they determined their verdict. For McKenzie, the jurors have only to decide whether they believed, beyond a reasonable doubt, that McKenzie was the shooter, Goodman said.
For his co-accused, the jury must weigh several factors.
The justice provided members with a flow chart taking them through a series of questions and asking whether Stewart-Sperry helped or encouraged the shooter to commit first-degree murder, or was engaged in a committing another crime for which the shooting was a likely consequence.
The jury may reach several possible verdicts.
- They may find McKenzie not guilty or guilty of first-degree murder.
- They may find Stewart-Sperry not guilty of first-degree murder, not guilty of first-degree murder but guilty of manslaughter, or guilty of first-degree murder.
Jurors could deliberate into the night Thursday and continue in the following days if they haven’t made a decision.
