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John Mcrae is either a cold-blooded killer who slit his sleeping son’s throat, or a frail 73-year-old man who, after years of elder abuse, killed his violent and drunk son in self-defence.
The jury that will decide the fate of the Orléans great-grandfather was offered two wildly different storylines about the evening he killed his son, Michael.
The defence would have the jury believe the evidence clearly establishes that the elder McCrae had endured years of abuse at the hands of his drunken, layabout son who spent his days and evenings drinking as he watched Breaking Bad on the couch.
“He was truly afraid and in fear of … his son’s violent rage,” lawyer Joseph Addelman told the jury Monday.
The defence team, Addelman and Mash Frouhar, urged the jury to listen to the 911 calls that Mcrae had made in the past, to conclude that Mcrae was desperate for help from his raging son, who kicked the door down, screaming, “I’m going to kill you.”
“Clearly, John was no match for Mike … and scared enough to call police,” Addelman said.
The lawyer said Mcrae stabbed his 51-year-old son to save himself.
It was terrifying to live with his abusive son, the lawyer said, running through the evidence that he said established his client’s fear:
Addelman dismissed the Crown’s case as weak, and warned the jurors against following prosecutors down “the rabbit hole of speculation and nonsense.”
Addelman said the case is covered in reasonable doubt, and that Mcrae deserves a second chance.
“I trust you will not hang the sign of murderer around his neck and leave him to rot,” the lawyer said. “Bring justice to this case, and justice is a verdict of not guilty.”
If the jury does not acquit Mcrae on the charge of second-degree murder, Addelman reminded it that the lesser charge of manslaughter would be in play because the evidence shows his client was too drunk to know that his actions would lead to his son’s death, let alone to form an intent to kill.
Mcrae was 2 1/2 times over the legal limit to drive when he killed his son, court has heard.
His lawyer said the evidence that showed Mcrae was so drunk that he couldn’t walk without help from two officers at the police station, and ended up collapsing and vomiting while in custody.
In closing arguments, Addelman noted that his client took the stand in his own defence because, “He had nothing to hide behind the curtain of silence.”
(Mcrae testified that he stabbed his son while his son was standing up arguing with him by the couch in the living room.)
Mcrae testified that he felt awful for killing his son and said he loved him. Asked why he did it, Mcrae told the jury: “Madness, I guess. Alcohol does crazy things to the mind.”
But the Crown told a very different version of events, with Marie Dufort telling the jury not to buy into defence counsel’s “blatant attempt to play the sympathy card.”
She noted that while the defence went to great lengths to cast Mcrae as a victim, and his slain son as a despicable man, she urged them to let the evidence show them otherwise.
Dufort reminded the jury about independent, unbiased testimony from a noisy neighbour who had “the best seat in the house” for Mcrae’s arrest minutes after the July 7, 2015 killing.
She had heard about the killing, so she stuck her head out the window of her upstairs apartment as Mcrae was being led away by police down below.
“Why’d you do that for?” she asked Mcrae.
“Because he deserved it,” replied Mcrae, according to the neighbour’s testimony.
The prosecutor noted that Mcrae had confessed to police, saying his son was better off dead. (The videotaped confession to Det. Kevin Jacobs was played for the jury at trial.)
Dufort also told the jury that in the hours leading to the killing, it was Mcrae, and not his son, who was the aggressor.
She also noted that his testimony was mired in inconsistencies from one day to the next and that he was combative in the witness box under intense cross-examination by assistant Crown Attorney John Ramsay.
Dufort branded Mcrae’s testimony as unreliable and self-serving and told the jury to reject it entirely.
The prosecutor told the jury that the 911 calls show the polar opposite of what the defence would have them believe.
She said that in one 911 call, Mcrae can be heard threatening to kill his son with a “big f—ing knife.”
She also asked the jury to use logic. Though Mcrae said he stabbed his son to death in an argument as they were both standing in the living room, there was no blood found in the floor.
All of the blood was on the couch, where the Crown says Michael Mcrae was slain as he slept by his drunken, enraged father who told a roommate that he killed him because he was “fed up. ”
Dufort also said that none of the evidence shows that Mcrae feared his son.
The Crown theory is that Mcrae was the violent aggressor in a fight over rent money after a day of drinking. They also say he killed out of revenge because he was humiliated that he could no longer beat his son in a fist fight.
The jury is expected to start deliberating John Mcrae’s fate later this week.
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The jury that will decide the fate of the Orléans great-grandfather was offered two wildly different storylines about the evening he killed his son, Michael.
The defence would have the jury believe the evidence clearly establishes that the elder McCrae had endured years of abuse at the hands of his drunken, layabout son who spent his days and evenings drinking as he watched Breaking Bad on the couch.
“He was truly afraid and in fear of … his son’s violent rage,” lawyer Joseph Addelman told the jury Monday.
The defence team, Addelman and Mash Frouhar, urged the jury to listen to the 911 calls that Mcrae had made in the past, to conclude that Mcrae was desperate for help from his raging son, who kicked the door down, screaming, “I’m going to kill you.”
“Clearly, John was no match for Mike … and scared enough to call police,” Addelman said.
The lawyer said Mcrae stabbed his 51-year-old son to save himself.
It was terrifying to live with his abusive son, the lawyer said, running through the evidence that he said established his client’s fear:
- He slept with a baseball bat for protection;
- He had to chase his son off with a hockey stick;
- His son constantly threatened to kill him;
- The older man, an ex-con who hates police, had called police for help twice.
Addelman dismissed the Crown’s case as weak, and warned the jurors against following prosecutors down “the rabbit hole of speculation and nonsense.”
Addelman said the case is covered in reasonable doubt, and that Mcrae deserves a second chance.
“I trust you will not hang the sign of murderer around his neck and leave him to rot,” the lawyer said. “Bring justice to this case, and justice is a verdict of not guilty.”
If the jury does not acquit Mcrae on the charge of second-degree murder, Addelman reminded it that the lesser charge of manslaughter would be in play because the evidence shows his client was too drunk to know that his actions would lead to his son’s death, let alone to form an intent to kill.
Mcrae was 2 1/2 times over the legal limit to drive when he killed his son, court has heard.
His lawyer said the evidence that showed Mcrae was so drunk that he couldn’t walk without help from two officers at the police station, and ended up collapsing and vomiting while in custody.
In closing arguments, Addelman noted that his client took the stand in his own defence because, “He had nothing to hide behind the curtain of silence.”
(Mcrae testified that he stabbed his son while his son was standing up arguing with him by the couch in the living room.)
Mcrae testified that he felt awful for killing his son and said he loved him. Asked why he did it, Mcrae told the jury: “Madness, I guess. Alcohol does crazy things to the mind.”
But the Crown told a very different version of events, with Marie Dufort telling the jury not to buy into defence counsel’s “blatant attempt to play the sympathy card.”
She noted that while the defence went to great lengths to cast Mcrae as a victim, and his slain son as a despicable man, she urged them to let the evidence show them otherwise.
Dufort reminded the jury about independent, unbiased testimony from a noisy neighbour who had “the best seat in the house” for Mcrae’s arrest minutes after the July 7, 2015 killing.
She had heard about the killing, so she stuck her head out the window of her upstairs apartment as Mcrae was being led away by police down below.
“Why’d you do that for?” she asked Mcrae.
“Because he deserved it,” replied Mcrae, according to the neighbour’s testimony.
The prosecutor noted that Mcrae had confessed to police, saying his son was better off dead. (The videotaped confession to Det. Kevin Jacobs was played for the jury at trial.)
Dufort also told the jury that in the hours leading to the killing, it was Mcrae, and not his son, who was the aggressor.
She also noted that his testimony was mired in inconsistencies from one day to the next and that he was combative in the witness box under intense cross-examination by assistant Crown Attorney John Ramsay.
Dufort branded Mcrae’s testimony as unreliable and self-serving and told the jury to reject it entirely.
The prosecutor told the jury that the 911 calls show the polar opposite of what the defence would have them believe.
She said that in one 911 call, Mcrae can be heard threatening to kill his son with a “big f—ing knife.”
She also asked the jury to use logic. Though Mcrae said he stabbed his son to death in an argument as they were both standing in the living room, there was no blood found in the floor.
All of the blood was on the couch, where the Crown says Michael Mcrae was slain as he slept by his drunken, enraged father who told a roommate that he killed him because he was “fed up. ”
Dufort also said that none of the evidence shows that Mcrae feared his son.
The Crown theory is that Mcrae was the violent aggressor in a fight over rent money after a day of drinking. They also say he killed out of revenge because he was humiliated that he could no longer beat his son in a fist fight.
The jury is expected to start deliberating John Mcrae’s fate later this week.
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