Woman acquitted of manslaughter and robbery

The former operator of a recovery facility in Vancouver was acquitted of manslaughter on Friday in connection with the fatal drug-related shooting of a man at a Downtown Eastside hotel.

The Crown’s theory of the case was that Marnie Marie Scow and Stephen Farmer, a man she had met at the recovery facility in 2014, went to the Savoy Hotel with the intent of breaking into the room of a man named Joseph Billy Bustinski, robbing him of drugs and money and assaulting him.

During the course of the Jan. 27, 2017 incident at the hotel, Farmer, who pleaded guilty in a separate trial to manslaughter after initially being charged with second-degree murder, fatally shot Bustinski.

Video surveillance in the hotel showed Scow and Farmer approaching Bustinski’s room, with Scow entering the room and Farmer following her.

Shortly after, Farmer and Bustinski could be seen in the hallway, chasing each other back and forth.

Farmer was holding a gun and another hotel resident is seen pointing bear spray at Farmer.

Bustinski could be seen returning to the room several times and banging on the door before eventually collapsing in front of the door, according to a summary of the video provided by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ronald Skolrood while he delivered his verdict Friday.

The video shows Scow emerging from the room, stepping over the body of Bustinski and then leaving the hotel.

Police later seized $117,000 in cash and a substantial quantity of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine in the room. Scow was acquitted of the manslaughter charge and a charge of robbery.