A photo taken of Jordan Herron (left) and Orren Johnson (right) at the conclusion of their trial in Feb. 2017 at Prince Albert Court of Queen's Bench. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Appeals dismissed

Court of Appeal upholds decision in 2014 murder case

Jan 8, 2020 | 2:00 PM

Two Prince Albert men convicted of murder will not get a new trial.

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal (SCA) has upheld the respective convictions for Orren Johnson and Jordan Herron, and dismissed their appeals. The written decision from Dec. 18, was posted to the Canadian Legal Information Institute Information website on Tuesday.

In February 2017, the two men were found guilty in the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Clayton James Bear, and received life sentences.

According to evidence heard at the trial, Bear was not able to name his shooter before he died on April 14, 2014. For the second time that day, police responded to a home on 27th Street East and found Bear in a back bedroom suffering from a gunshot wound with several females attending to him. Bear later died in hospital. Herron and Johnson were later identified and charged by police, after receiving information from witnesses.

According to Heron’s lawyer Brian Pfefferle, those witnesses were too intoxicated at the time of the incident and therefore could not be considered reliable. He also stated there was a “lack of evidence” which could support the conclusion Herron aided or abetted the offence.

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Johnson’s lawyer Harold Brubaker submitted the jury’s verdicts against both men were unreasonable and inconsistent, and like Heron’s lawyer argued the Crown’s case was based on circumstantial evidence.

In their written decision, the justices stated the trial judge had not erred and fairly instructed the jury to be aware of inconsistent testimony. The justices also found the trial judge properly instructed the jury what it takes for someone to be aiding or abetting.

“The evidence as to who shot Mr. Bear and the circumstances surrounding the shooting itself were entirely circumstantial, but the evidence implicating Mr. Herron as having aided Mr. Johnson, assuming the jury found Mr. Johnson to be the perpetrator, was a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence,” Justice J.A. Jackson wrote.

Further in the written decision Justice Jackson wrote Herron’s presence throughout the key events would lay the foundation for a conclusion that he was part of a plan to kill or grievously injure someone that morning at the house, but the jury may have had a reasonable doubt about whether Herron planned or deliberated the offence.

“This court, however, need not decide which pathway the jury took – indeed, it would be impossible to know for certain in any event. It is sufficient to conclude that there is a basis upon which this properly instructed jury could convict Mr. Johnson of first degree murder and Mr. Herron of second degree murder,” Justice Jackson wrote.

At the conclusion of their sentencing hearings, Herron was told he would not be eligible for parole for 11 years, while Johnson must wait a mandatory 25 years.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell