Prosecutor puts an end to Montreal murder trial

Development ‘very, very, very rare’

MONTREAL • A murder trial about to enter its final stage came to an abrupt end Tuesday after the jury heard from the judge in the case against Notre-Dame-deGrâce resident Michael Gero that the Crown no longer believes he killed his girlfriend, Sherri Thomas.

Superior Court Justice Hélène Di Salvo informed the jury of the unexpected development that occurred last Thursday, the day when prosecutor Jacques Dagenais was expected to begin his closing arguments in a trial that, at that point, had lasted more than a week.

Everything said in the case from Thursday to Monday was placed under a publication ban until the jury returned Tuesday morning. Di Salvo told the jury that the development was “very, very, very rare” and something that hardly ever happens in Canadian courts.

On Thursday, Dagenais informed Di Salvo that he intended to direct the jury toward acquitting Gero, 27, on the second-degree murder charge he had faced since his arrest on Nov. 19, 2013, the day police found Thomas lying on the floor of the kitchen of the apartment the couple lived in. She died later in hospital.

Dagenais said he made the decision after hearing Gero testify in his own defence on Feb. 20. Gero told the jury he believes Thomas shot herself while he was taking a shower.

“As a prosecutor, I have to have, throughout the entire trial, the moral conviction that a crime was committed,” Dagenais told Di Salvo on Thursday.

“I have no argument to demonstrate he shot the victim. We believed we had good evidence, but I have no argument to submit to the jury.”

Di Salvo countered that for a prosecutor to make such a request to a jury during closing arguments, there would have to be “a total absence of evidence.” She noted “there was blood everywhere” in the couple’s apartment and that she had found contradictions in Gero’s testimony.

The prosecutor was asked to consider other options and, on Monday, he announced that the Crown simply would no longer prosecute Gero.

“You have no verdict to render,” Di Salvo told the jury before thanking them for their professionalism throughout the trial.

She placed a stay of proceedings on the murder charge, which means it will remain in limbo for a year unless new evidence emerges in Thomas’s death.

After the stay of proceedings was made official on Monday, Gero pleaded guilty to two charges related to the firearm that was found on the roof of the apartment building on Grand Boulevard where he and Thomas lived.

Gero admitted to being in possession of a prohibited firearm and to violating a court order by possessing the firearm — a starter’s pistol designed to fire blanks that had been modified to fire .22-calibre bullets.

He told the jury on Feb. 20 that he had obtained the firearm for protection when he used to sell crack cocaine. He was under a court order not to possess it following his conviction, on Nov. 10, 2011, for his role in the armed robbery of a man who made deliveries for a convenience store in Lachine.

Dagenais and Gero’s lawyer, David Petranic, made a joint recommendation that Gero be sentenced to time already served plus one additional day. Dagenais said Gero had already served 39 months.

Di Salvo said she will make a decision on the sentence on Wednesday. On the surface, she did not appear to be impressed with what she heard.

“The fact that this gun killed someone? How do you see this?” Di Salvo asked Petranic.

“(Thomas) was aware of the gun and she was OK with it (being in their apartment),” Petranic said. “On my side I don’t think it’s an aggravating factor.”

“In all fairness, we do not know who loaded this gun,” Dagenais added.

Outside the courtroom, Petranic told reporters that Gero has no plans to pursue the justice system for having been charged with murder.

“Listen, this is a sad story for my client and for the family of the person who died, (Sherri) Thomas. It’s a story where there is no winner. Mr. Gero lost three years of his life behind bars and he lost a person he loved very much. He had to wait three years to tell his story to the court. My client sees no reason at all to take certain (legal) steps.”

While arguing in support of the sentencing recommendation, Petranic said that at the time of Thomas’s death, Gero was making an effort to put a life of crime behind him and had been attending school five days a week.

Gero testified that after Thomas shot herself, he emerged from the shower, grabbed the pistol and tossed it on the roof of their apartment knowing that he was not allowed to possess a firearm.

The jury was told that Gero called 911 after Thomas was shot and that he asked a neighbour for help afterward.