Judge Reserves Decision In Severight Trial

Judge Reserves Decision In Severight Trial

Thursday, June 03, 2010 at 13:28

 

 

Final arguments have been made in the assault trial of a Saskatoon woman who was shot by police more than two years ago.

 

Defence lawyer Nick Stooshinoff says his client, Leanne Severight, should be acquitted of the two charges she faces — assault for threatening a police officer and possessing weapons dangerous to the public.

 

Severight was shot December 27th, 2007 when police responded to a 9-1-1 call about a woman threatening to kill herself.

 

Severight’s lawyer argues she posed not threat to anyone but herself.

 

Stooshinoff says she wasn’t waving the knives at the officers or lunging at them.

 

He maintains the Crown hasn’t proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Severight was armed when shot or that she even posed a threat.

 

Crown prosecutor Cory Bliss argues when Severight herself phoned 9-1-1, her call was a fast, frantic, angry call for confrontation.

 

Bliss says the constable who shot Severight felt threatened and thought Severight would slash or stab her.

 

Bliss also pointed to a case where someone was still convicted of assault when there was the belief they had a weapon, even though they didn’t, so he argues whether or not Severight dropped knives before being shot doesn’t matter.

 

The judge is reserving his decision until August 4th.