Rick Patrick’s second-degree murder trial is nearing its conclusion after numerous days of arcane legal arguments, which have led to unexpected delays and prevented the jury from deciding the case.
Patrick, a 68-year-old retiree, is on trial for stabbing Orillia native Christopher Forrester on Dec. 16, 2021, in the driveway of Patrick’s Midland home.
Both the Crown and defence made their closing submissions Wednesday at the Barrie courthouse.
The Crown is arguing that Patrick killed Forrester over his frustration at almost two years of dealing with landlord-tenant issues.
Patrick has claimed it was self-defence.
Forrester, who was 36 at the time of his death, had been living in a trailer owned by Patrick, which was located a few minutes’ drive away and within walking distance of the scene where he died on a cold, windy night shortly before Christmas.
Speaking first on Wednesday morning, Patrick’s lawyer, Alison Craig, made an impassioned submission to reach the only reasonable conclusion she says is available to them: a not-guilty verdict.
“If you looked up (the definition of) self-defence in the dictionary, it would be this case,” Craig told the jury.
Patrick testified last week that he arrived home about 10:15 p.m., after spending the evening at his partner’s residence, to find a dark figure he didn’t realize at first was Forrester at the end of his driveway.
Patrick testified Forrester charged at him with his arm raised and that he scrambled to retrieve a knife he had been carrying for protection.
Forrester was stabbed once with a knife Patrick says had been given to him as a Christmas present by his former-friend-turned-delinquent tenant.
Forrester died less than an hour later at the Midland hospital.
Craig repeated key points from Patrick’s earlier testimony: that Patrick was trapped from fleeing by his car door, and that he had a well-founded fear for his own safety because Forrester was a much younger, healthier man who had previously damaged Patrick’s property.
“One was young with a background in (mixed martial arts); the other was a 65-year-old man with two bad knees who (occasionally) needed a cane,” Craig told the jury.
Moreover, Craig told the jury, the single stab wound, as catastrophic as it turned out, was proof of Patrick’s lack of murderous intent.
“If Mr. Patrick wanted him dead, why didn’t he stab him again?” Craig asked the jury.
Crown attorney Dennis Chronopoulos is arguing that Patrick intended to harm Forrester and wasn’t merely defending himself on the fateful winter night. At the very least, that makes Patrick guilty of manslaughter, but Chronopoulos made his position plain many times on Wednesday: that Patrick is guilty of second-degree murder.
“He finally got fed up with Chris Forrester and he took out that frustration by putting a knife in his chest," Chronopoulos told the jury.
Chronopoulos, as he did at length while cross-examining Patrick last week, detailed the long and complicated dispute over Forrester’s tenancy during his closing submissions.
The Crown says Forrester’s truancy in paying rent on time and not moving out prevented the accused from selling the Vics Road property.
Moreover, the Crown says Patrick’s failure to recall certain details about the long saga that landed them before the landlord-tenant tribunal, while remembering others perfectly well, is evidence of him lying.
By extension, that lying calls into question his recounting of the fatal encounter, Chronopoulos told the jury.
“Rick Patrick is not a reliable or credible witness … He was so sure on direct examination (by his own lawyer), but unsure on cross-examination (by the Crown)," Chronopoulos said.
The trial is taking place before Superior Court Justice Clyde Smith, who is expected to complete his charge on Thursday, which is at least a couple of days longer than could have been reasonably expected last week.
Legal arguments have dominated proceedings since that time.
Eleven jurors will decide the case, one short of standard after one was dismissed from the panel for heath reasons before any evidence had been heard.
