MAKING FINAL SUBMISSIONS

Lawyers make final submissions in trial for Matthew Lindsey Clarke and Brodie Joseph McQuaid who were shot on Christmas Day in 2015

Both sides have their say in trial for Matthew Lindsey Clarke and Brodie Joseph McQuaid who were shot on Christmas Day in 2015

The two men who were shot in a Pleasant Grove home on Christmas Day in 2015 were invited to the house, their lawyers argued Wednesday in P.E.I. Supreme Court.

Matthew Lindsey Clarke and Brodie Joseph McQuaid were charged with break and enter and assault in connection with the incident.

Defence lawyer Brendan Hubley, who was representing McQuaid, said the two men had no intention of going to Matthew Brian Misener’s home that day until Misener called Clarke.

On Wednesday, McQuaid and Clarke appeared before Justice Nancy Key in Charlottetown where lawyers for both sides made their final submissions.

The shooting stemmed from one of Misener’s friends having an affair with the girlfriend of a friend of Clarke and McQuaid.

During the trial, the court heard different versions of how Matthew Brian Misener shot McQuaid in the hand, abdomen and neck.

He then shot Clarke in the upper leg and hit him in the face with the butt of a rifle.

Misener was sentenced in February to one year in jail for assault with a weapon, careless storage of a firearm and possessing a firearm without a licence.

In his version of events, Misener testified the rifle he was holding went off while McQuaid was strangling him and the two were struggling.

Misener also testified he shot Clarke to stop his assault on Misener’s friend who was in the house.

McQuaid testified he saw Misener with the gun and went to get it away from him when Misener shot him.

Hubley said Misener’s version of events was unbelievable.

“It makes no sense,” Hubley said. During the trial, McQuaid testified he had been to Misener’s home many times and always just knocked and went inside.

McQuaid also testified that the day he was shot he knocked, went in and took his boots off once inside the house.

Those were details Hubley referred to in his submissions.

“Who takes their boots off upon entering for a break and enter?”

The court heard testimony during the trial that Misener told the accused to go to his house so they could settle the matter like men.

Misener testified he stuck his body out a window and tried unsuccessfully to fire two warning shots at McQuaid and Clarke before they went into his house.

Brandon Forbes, who was representing Clarke, said it was “absolutely implausible” that the accused would have seen those actions and continued on into the house.

In her submissions, Crown attorney Valerie Moore said the evidence was strong McQuaid and Clarke went to Misener’s house with the intent to commit assault.

“They did not go there with any legitimate purpose,” she said.

Moore said Misener and his friend didn’t want the accused in the house. “They were scared of them,” she said. She also said the visit was not a social call.

“I don’t think that you can make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear.”

Key adjourned the matter until Sept. 13 when she will give her decision.