Lawyer warns jury against anger
Deliberations in slaying of girl, 13, begin Friday
Defence lawyer Gary Grill told a jury in a murder trial they had a right to feel intense anger as he held nude autopsy photos of slain Grade 8 student Aleksandra Firgan-hewie in front of them in Brampton court Thursday.
“Unfortunately, you make the worst decisions when you are guided by emotions, especially anger,” Grill said in his closing remarks in the trial of his client, Rafal Lasota.
Lasota, 28, and his former fiancée, Michelle Liard, 22, are each charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 10, 2008, slaying of Firgan-hewie, 13, of Mississauga.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations Friday.
Firgan-hewie’s mother, Milena, cringed, hugged her son and dabbed tears from her eyes when the photos of her slashed and stabbed daughter were displayed.
One of Firgan-hewie’s friends rushed out of the courtroom, fighting back tears.
Grill urged the jury to consider a manslaughter verdict for his client, saying there was serious doubt he was capable of forming the intent to plan a murder. “It was a frenzied attack,” he said. “There was no forcible confinement.”
He also dismissed the possibility that a short story written by Liard about the sadistic murder of a young woman might have been a blueprint for murder.
Firgan-hewie was stabbed 37 times and struck another two doz- en times. “If this was a plan and a blueprint for murder, it would have to be the stupidest plan ever conceived,” Grill said. As he spoke, Liard shifted her body and faced the jury with a sad expression on her face while Lasota looked dazed and concerned, staring straight ahead. Grill said his client was probably guided by intense anxiety, fear, alcohol and marijuana. In his closing remarks to the jury, Liard’s lawyer Daniel Brodsky said there was no eyewitness, confession or forensic evidence suggesting his client, Liard, was guilty of murder or even in Lasota’s bedroom when the killing took place. He called his client “an ordinary person caught up in extraordinary circumstances” through her love of the “wanton Rafal Lasota.” “Ms. Liard’s defence is innocent association,” Brodsky said. Assistant Crown Attorney Greg Mcguire said the law books are full of cases of people who were convicted of first-degree murder and who had stupid plans. “I don’t have to prove that it was a good plan,” Mcguire said. “Stupid, bad, simple plans do not equate to no plans.” Mcguire noted that there had been an extensive cleanup of Lasota’s bedroom and clothing with bleach. He asked the jury to consider what might have happened if Lasota’s mother hadn’t suspected something had gone horribly wrong and called police. “If Teresa Lasota hadn’t raised the alarm, would they have gotten caught that night?” Mcguire asked.