Hannan guilty of murder
It was a long time coming, but justice has finally been done for the family of a Dartmouth murder victim.
Trevor Kyle Hannan was found guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder in the August 2014 stabbing death of Daniel Pellerin.
“Our family wants to thank and show appreciation to the investigative team and the Crown for their diligence and hard work, and especially for the great respect that they showed Daniel and our entire family,” Melissa Weir, Pellerin’s sister, said outside court. “It will never be forgotten.
“Although nothing can bring Dan back, we do feel that we finally have justice for him.”
Weir said the family coped over the past four years by “coming together … and never giving up hope and the perseverance to get this done.”
Hannan, 27, of Dartmouth, stood trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
The trial got underway Oct. 15. The jury began deliberating Tuesday and returned with the verdict Wednesday at about 11:25 a.m.
The jury of seven women and five men found Hannan not guilty of both charges on the indictment but guilty of seconddegree murder.
Hannan will be sentenced in December by Justice Robert Wright, who ordered a presentence report against the wishes of the offender and defence lawyer Robert Rideout.
The conviction carries an automatic penalty of life in prison, with the judge to determine how many years Hannan must serve before he’s eligible to apply for parole.
Wright will set Hannan’s parole ineligibility at somewhere between 10 and 25 years.
Jurors were asked to submit individual recommendations regarding parole, which the judge said he will take into account at sentencing. Six jurors recommended 10 years, three recommended 20 years and two recommended 15 years. One juror did not make a recommendation.
Pellerin, a 28-year-old father of two young daughters, died
after he was assaulted by two males in the parking lot of Farrell Hall in north end Dartmouth on Aug. 29, 2014.
Hannan was arrested one week later. He was supposed to stand trial in July 2017, but the hearing was postponed after his lawyers stepped down, citing “ethical reasons.”
A 15-year-old Dartmouth boy was also charged in the slaying. He pleaded guilty in Halifax youth court in 2015 to seconddegree murder and received a seven-year sentence, the maximum youth penalty available for that offence.
The identity of the young man, now 19, is protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He was ordered to serve the first four years of the sentence in custody and the remainder in the community under strict supervision.
The Crown’s theory at Hannan’s trial was that he and the youth were co-principals in the killing and both used knives in the attack on Pellerin.
Prosecutors argued that the assailants had different motives. Hannan was allegedly angry because Pellerin owed him $100 for marijuana and had also bought drugs from another dealer.
The teenager was one of three youths involved in a vicious assault on a boy related to Pellerin in the spring of 2014. Pellerin had confronted one of the boys a few days before the killing and slapped him on the head.
The evidence showed that Pellerin made arrangements to meet up with Hannan on the night of Aug. 29 to pay off his drug debt. Hannan and the youth communicated by phone three times shortly before Pellerin was attacked.
The assault was witnessed by a man who said he saw two people knock Pellerin off his bicycle and attack him with their hands and feet.
The witness did not see any weapons, but police recovered two knives believed to have been used in the assault from a nearby storm sewer.
One of the knives matched a set of steak knives seized from Hannan’s residence. There was one knife missing from the knife block.
A weapons expert said tool marks on one of Pellerin’s ribs could have been left by that steak knife.
“The difference between firstdegree murder and second-degree murders is planning and deliberation,” said Peter Craig, who prosecuted the case with Kim McOnie.
“So I think we can only conclude that the jury had reasonable doubt on the evidence we advanced in relation to planning and deliberation.”
Craig said he is confident the jurors moved carefully and methodically through the evidence during their five hours of deliberation.
He said prosecutors will consider various factors before coming up with a recommendation on parole ineligibility.
“We’ll be looking at the presentence report that the judge ordered, do some research on the range of sentences in Nova Scotia for seconddegree murder and take into account what we know of the accused’s criminal record,” Craig said. “We’ll settle on a number that really is guided by the case law.”