Defence in murder trial questions witness testimony
KITCHENER — At one point during a daylong cross-examination, the defence for accused murderer Noel Francis suggested to the Crown’s witness that he wasn’t telling the truth when he said Francis confessed to the murder and gave him a gun to dispose of.
On the witness stand, Stevie Stephens smiled at the suggestion.
“So what is your answer?” defence lawyer Chris Murphy asked.
“He did confess to me and gave me a gun,” Stephens replied.
Murphy went on to suggest that Stephens, who is in prison on drug trafficking charges, was testifying against Francis so that his charges would be dropped.
He faces firearm trafficking charges.
“I don’t believe that,” Stephens said.
The jury trial of Francis resumed Wednesday after a long adjournment. Francis, 30, of Toronto is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Devane Campbell, 20, of Brantford.
Campbell was shot twice on Nov. 30, 2012, at a housing complex on Elm Ridge Drive in Kitchener.
Earlier Stephens testified that Francis told him that he had shot a “kid.”
By the end of the conversation, Francis told Stephens that the person had died.
Stephens also testified that Francis dropped off a bag.
He said he later found a gun in the bag. Stephens, 35, a Toronto singer/songwriter, is a convicted cocaine trafficker who is a former friend of Francis.
Murphy showed the court an email from a security intelligence officer at the Beaver Creek Institution who said Stephens told her he was testifying because he thought his outstanding weapon charges would be dropped.
She also said Stephens felt “pressured” by police to testify and if he didn’t his situation would get worse.
When asked in court if he felt police pressure, Stephen testified that he did not.
“The conversation we had was not like that,” he said.
“You are lying right now,” Murphy shot back.
“The Crown has no reason to
Your memory gets better when the screw starts to tighten. CHRIS MURPHY Defence attorney for Noel Francis
hand this to me if it’s not true.”
Murphy pointed to Stephens’ earlier interview with police when he said Francis didn’t tell him about the murder.
“I never heard he committed a murder. He never told me,” Stephens said.
“He never said there was a murder, on my kids’ lives.”
When asked if he was telling the truth, Stephens said: “At the time I was going through a lot of things. It was my honest answer at the time.”
“Your honest answer was a lie,” Murphy shouted back. “No,” he said. Murphy suggested Stephens was trying to protect himself from any connection to the Kitchener murder.
“You were trying to save yourself from a murder rap?” he said.
“Ya, maybe it’s possible,” Stephens said.
Murphy told the court that Stephens had lived with his mother and brother but his brother was deported to Jamaica after being convicted of robbery with a firearm.
“You were trafficking firearms out of your mother’s residence,” Murphy said.
“When he (his brother) went to jail, you took over the family business of selling guns,” Murphy said. “No, sir,” Stephens said. Later, Murphy referred to previous testimony in which Stephens called another man to get rid of the gun allegedly used by Francis.
“Yo, come check me,” Murphy read. “How can anyone take that statement to mean you were trafficking a gun?”
Murphy pointed to testimony in which Stephens said he found out about the murder from police and not Francis.
In transcripts from a preliminary hearing presented in court Wednesday, Stephens said he swore to God and on his children that was how he found out about the murder.
Murphy pointed to discrepancies in Stephens’ statements to police.
“Your memory gets better when the screw starts to tighten,” Murphy told Stephens.
“You are always going to remember the fact that your friend confessed and gave you a murder weapon. You won’t just forget that,” Murphy said.
“Ya, you’re right,” Stephens replied.
Stephens repeatedly explained the discrepancies by suggesting he had a lot on his mind. The day he was arrested for trafficking in the firearm, his music partner Karl Wolf was receiving accolades in the United States.
“When you have lots of things happening, you aren’t going to remember,” he said.
Stephens admitted to being guilty of drug possession but then said the cocaine found in the trunk of his car may have been placed there.
“It’s a possibility I was set up,” he said when asked by Murphy if he knew about the cocaine in his car.
“The drugs I got caught with are not my drugs,” Stephens said.
Stephens also said he didn’t know how much cocaine was under his bed. Police found 1.5 kilograms of cocaine worth about $160,000.
When asked how long he had been trafficking drugs, Stephens said he couldn’t recall.
In another instance, when asked why he had two cellphones, Stephens said one is for personal, the other for business.
“Drug dealers have two cellphones?” Murphy asked.
“It’s possible,” Stephens responded.
The trial continues Thursday.