Pasieka guilty on all charges
Jury deliberates for seven hours before returning murder verdicts in warehouse stabbing rampage
The daughter of a man killed during a warehouse stabbing spree burst into tears Friday when a jury found an Edmonton man guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.
Jayme Pasieka, who turns 33 on Saturday, was also convicted of four counts each of attempted murder and aggravated assault.
Patricia Harris, who sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery for almost every moment of the eight-day trial, cried when the verdicts came down after about seven hours of deliberation. Pasieka was found guilty on all counts.
Pasieka sat, arms crossed, looking expressionless — a pose he maintained throughout the trial, except for the hour he spent testifying Wednesday.
On Feb. 28, 2014, Pasieka arrived at the west Edmonton Loblaw warehouse where he was employed and stabbed six of his co-workers, killing Fitzroy Harris, 50, and Thierno Bah, 41.
The other four victims testified against him.
Pasieka, who suffers from schizophrenia, has acknowledged he caused the two deaths, but his lawyer Peter Royal urged the jury to find Pasieka guilty of manslaughter, arguing he was incapable of forming intent.
Court was told Pasieka heard voices and experienced hallucinations. It also heard about Pasieka’s belief in a government conspiracy against him, and his interest in joining the military. Pasieka dressed in dark clothing and a vest that witnesses described as a flak jacket on the day of the stabbings. He wore camouflage pants every day of the trial, and usually appeared in a sweatshirt with a military-style crest on it.
Court heard that though Pasieka did spend some time in custody at the Edmonton Remand Centre following his arrest, he was in and out of Alberta Hospital, where he currently remains certified under the Mental Health Act. At the request of the court’s sheriffs, Pasieka’s ankles were shackled throughout the trial, except when testifying so that the jury would not know.
Pasieka told the jury in a soft, clear voice the reason he stabbed six people was because he “just needed help.”
Assistant chief Crown prosecutor Kim Goddard argued having a severe mental illness didn’t mean Pasieka lacked the capacity to plan the stabbings.
While cross-examining Pasieka, she pressed him to explain what he meant when he said he was “giving up,” and put it to him that he intended to kill people when he went to his workplace, dressed in a military style and armed with spare knives.
“You would agree with me that everything went according to plan?” Goddard asked. “Yes,” Pasieka replied. Speaking outside the courthouse after the verdict, Goddard said cases involving mental illnesses are complicated, but said many people with schizophrenia do successfully seek treatment.
“You realize that there are people who are able to function, who are able to get help. Unfortunately, Mr. Pasieka didn’t take any of those steps,” Goddard said.
Pasieka will be automatically sentenced to life with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Goddard said she is still determining if she will argue for consecutive sentences for the murders, which would mean serving 50 years before being able to apply for parole.
A sentencing date has yet to be scheduled.