Jury’s verdict: guilty
Halifax man accused in death of off-duty officer guilty of second-degree murder
A jury has found Christopher Garnier guilty of punching and strangling Nova Scotia police officer Catherine Campbell, rejecting his claim that the offduty officer died accidentally during rough sex.
The 12-member Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury delivered its verdicts Thursday after 4.5 hours of deliberations, declaring the 30-year-old Halifax man guilty of second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body.
Garnier looked down and held his face in his hands after the verdicts were read. Members of his family sobbed uncontrollably. Campbell’s family showed little emotion until they emerged from the courtroom, where they cried and hugged.
A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence. A hearing to determine Garnier’s parole eligibility is scheduled for May 7, 2018.
Court heard Garnier met the 36-year-old Truro police constable at a Halifax bar in the early hours of Sept. 11, 2015. The jury watched surveillance video showing Garnier and Campbell kissing and dancing before leaving the Halifax Alehouse around 3:30 a.m. The prosecution said the two went to an apartment on McCully Street, where Garnier was staying with a friend.
Crown attorney Christine Driscoll told the jury Garnier lost control during a sexual encounter with Campbell, stuffed her lifeless body into a compost bin, and dumped her remains in thick brush in the area of Halifax’s Angus L. Macdonald Bridge.
“The truth is that Ms. Campbell did nothing wrong,” Driscoll said in her closing arguments Monday. “Her life was over and she was treated like trash,”
During a nine-hour recorded interview with police, Garnier said he hit Campbell with his fist and had his hands around her throat as she was choking, but he repeatedly said he could not remember other details from that night.
Testifying in his own defence, Garnier told the jury through tears that during sex play, Campbell encouraged him to choke and slap her.
“If she ever resisted, I would have stopped,” he said.
At one point during his testimony, defence lawyer Joel Pink asked Garnier to step down from the witness stand and describe what he claimed happened on the pullout couch inside the apartment.
Using a long table as a prop, Garnier lay down on his side and told the jury his right forearm was across Campbell’s neck when she asked him to slap her. He said he wasn’t looking at her at the time, but he felt his arm getting wet and saw blood. Garnier said when he returned from retrieving a towel, Campbell wasn’t moving.
Garnier told police he heard Campbell gasp for air before she stopped breathing.
After Campbell died, Garnier said his vision became blurry, he heard loud noises and he couldn’t remember much else.
Under cross-examination, Driscoll asked Garnier why he did not call 911 or attempt CPR, despite his training as a firefighter.
He did not offer an explanation.