Both sides at murder trial rely on same video for proof

On the eve of its deliberations, the jury in the second-degree murder trial of accused prom-night killer Devontay Hackett was asked to believe two wildly different interpretations of the key video that captured the deadly brawl.

Prosecutors said it shows that Hackett slashed Brandon Volpi’s throat and knifed his heart. No, it proves his innocence, defence lawyers declared.

In a dramatic closing address to the jury — six women, six men — defence lawyer Joseph Addelman said the prosecution’s case was built on uncertainty and riddled with reasonable doubt.

“This is reasonable doubt you could drive a truck through,” Addelman said.

He told the jury the video doesn’t show any knife, let alone one in Hackett’s right hand. If anything, he said, the video vindicates his client because it shows him punching another man in the head during the brawl, with his right hand, and without a knife in it.

The blotchy video has been dissected for the jury by the Crown and defence for hours.

“You can break it down a million ways to Sunday, but there is no knife. The cellphone video is positive evidence that my client did not have a knife,” Addelman told the jury.

The defence lawyer noted that police witness Danielle Saunders Gauthier was the only one who said she saw a knife, and she testified last week that she saw it in another man’s hand. Addelman told the jury that prosecutors didn’t call her to the stand, and instead “chose to call a bunch of kids who didn’t see anything.”

“But I called her to the stand ... and Danielle provides the only evidence that you have heard about the knife in four weeks of testimony. And guess what? The knife was in another guy’s hands.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is textbook reasonable doubt . ... You cannot hang the sign of murderer around Devontay’s neck and leave him to rot. Not on this evidence.

“It is you, the jury, who stand like a bulwark between Devontay Hackett and a miscarriage of justice,” Addelman said.

Assistant Crown attorney Michael Boyce told the jury a different story, one in which, he said, Hackett can clearly be seen in the video killing Volpi, 18.

“We ask you to believe your eyes,” Boyce urged.

The prosecutor told the jury that Hackett brought a knife to a fist fight and intended to kill Volpi after a simmering feud with a mutual friend.

Boyce then zeroed in on what Hackett did after the killing. He reminded the jury that Hackett was the one who not only bolted from the crime scene but left town, then did Internet research on how to move to Jamaica.

When Hackett was arrested a month later in Toronto, he was wearing a watch that had he victim’s blood on it, the jury heard.

Hackett has pleaded not guilty. His trial continues today at the Elgin Street courthouse.