Court of Queen's Bench in Prince Albert. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Court proceedings

Paddockwood area man loses appeal of murder conviction

Mar 23, 2022 | 5:00 PM

A man sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his long time friend has lost his appeal.

Ryan David Clark claimed there was “problematic'” eyewitness evidence heard during his trial in 2018, and argued the trial judge failed to properly instruct the jury.

Christopher Durocher, 37, was killed in early October of 2016. His body was found inside a camper just west of Christopher Lake. RCMP said at the time that there were signs of a fight and charged Clark after a five-month long investigation.

Evidence presented during trial showed Durocher died of blunt force trauma to the head. Crown Prosecutor Catherine Gagnon explained in court the two men had been best friends but the relationship deteriorated after Clark became suspicious that Durocher had an affair with his girlfriend and was the father of her child.

Durocher had in turn denied these accusations.

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The two Crown witnesses who had testified during the trial were both with Durocher on the night he died, and had described seeing a man come on to the property and punch Durocher with enough force to knock him to the ground.

Neither of the two witnesses could identify the man when interviewed by police, and according to Clark, were both high on meth on the night in question. They would later only be able to provide a name after conducting their own investigation through social media.

While agreeing eyewitness identification suffered from many weaknesses, Justice J.A. Tholl stated the ability to place Clark at the scene was bolstered by DNA found on a water bottle; a matching description of the suspect’s vehicle seen at the property; Mr. Clark’s absence from his girlfriend’s home during the attack; and by his anger towards Mr. Durocher around the time of the killing.

“While the Crown’s case was not overwhelming, a finding of guilt was reasonably available to the jury after taking the evidence as a whole into account,” Tholl said.

Justice Tholl also noted how Clark took issue with the fact he was convicted of murder and not manslaughter, but explained Clark did not vigorously pursue this point and raised no arguments to convince the Court of Appeal that a properly instructed jury could not have convicted him of second degree murder as opposed to manslaughter.

‘The jury was entitled to reach the verdict it did,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell