Closing arguments made in Fraser murder trial
A defence lawyer told a jury Monday his client was no angel, but the Crown hasn’t proved its firstdegree murder case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Ron Charlebois is defending Brad MacGarvie, 26, of Niagara Falls, in the death Alex Fraser, 49, of Niagara Falls.
MacGarvie, a heavily tattooed former MMA fighter who goes by the street nickname Hollywood, took the stand in his own defence earlier in the trial, to the surprise of many.
Charlebois explained to the jury his client gave up his right against self-incrimination “to tell you the truth.”
“He ain’t Little Lord Fauntleroy, but he fessed up and told you what happened that day,” Charlebois said.
Charlebois said MacGarvie’s testimony shows the Crown’s theory is flawed. The jury should consider a sentence of manslaughter.
Two other defendants, Thomas Nagy, 26, and Duran Wilson, 30, are also charged with first-degree murder in Fraser’s death. Nagy and Wilson are from Niagara Falls as is Fraser.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge and sat shoulder to shoulder in the prisoner’s box.
Fraser vanished on Boxing Day 2014. His car was found engulfed in flames along the Niagara Parkway in Fort Erie that day.
His body was discovered in the spring floating near the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station. His head was bound with duct tape and his wrists and ankles were tied.
The Crown is expected to present a very different interpretation of the facts during its summation, which is scheduled for today at the Welland courthouse.
The jury is charged with sorting through testimony from the eight-week trial, including that of the Crown’s star witness, Victoria Harvey.
Harvey, 23, testified she had no idea Fraser was going to be killed when she and her mother, who also worked as an escort, agreed to lure him to Gonder’s Flats, a remote area in Fort Erie.
She testified she knew Fraser was in danger but was too afraid of MacGarvie to speak up.
Charlebois said MacGarvie himself was scared.
He had been receiving death threats by text the night Fraser died. The message said there were thugs on the way to Niagara Falls to kill MacGarvie in retaliation for a beating MacGarvie gave Fraser at an address on Morrison Street in November.
The original altercation between MacGarvie and Fraser occurred when McGarvie interrupted an assault by Fraser on Harvey.
Fraser was a driver for an illegal cab company and was a close friend of Harvey and would drive her to meet clients. It was under the guise of meeting a client that Fraser drove to Fort Erie.
Harvey was also charged with first-degree murder. However, she pleaded guilty in February to the lesser offence of manslaughter and received a four-year sentence before testifying.
Wilson’s attorney, Jordan Goldlist, is also scheduled to make her final appeal to the jury today.
George Walker, and his cocounsel Bobbie Walker, are representing Nagy. George Walker addressed the jury Monday.
“I want to make it quite clear, Mr. Nagy is not guilty of any criminal offence in this case,” he said.
“I don’t shirk from that. Mr. Nagy is guilty of making poor choices. He may be guilty of stupidity, but that is not a charge in the criminal code.”
He admitted Nagy was there the night Fraser was killed, but the evidence didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt Nagy was involved in a plan to kill Fraser or his death.
Walker said MacGarvie testified he asked Nagy join the group in Fort Erie because MacGarvie “would need big guys” in the eventuality that the men Fraser had recruited to beat MacGarvie showed up.
“He didn’t know what was going on. He had no bone to pick with Fraser. He had no animosity. Just look at the evidence,” Walker said.
Walker added, “To his credit, Mr. MacGarvie has come into the court and admitted it. There was no plan for a murder. The plan was to scare Fraser … and the plan was to deliberately keep Mr. Nagy in the dark.”
MacGarvie also testified he told Nagy to stay in the bushes at Gonder’s Flats where the burned-out wreck of Fraser’s car was found.
Walker said a study of thermal imaging videos of the crime scene in Fort Erie from cameras operated by the border patrol confirm Nagy didn’t leave the wooded area between 1:06 a.m. and 1:35 a.m., before everyone left the scene together for Niagara Falls in a truck driven by Wilson.
Walker then attacked the credibility of Harvey and her mother.
“I ask you to find they are nothing more than liars,” he said. “It would be very dangerous to convict anyone in this trial based on their evidence.”