Jurors have returned manslaughter verdicts against two men accused in the shooting death of Jane Creba, the Toronto teenager who was killed in a 2005 Boxing Day shootout.
Louis Woodcock, 23 and Tyshaun Barnett, 22, have each been found of guilty of manslaughter and four counts of aggravated assault.
Both men had pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. They will be sentenced on April 22. Both have been in custody since 2006, so they will be receiving credit for time served.
The jurors returned a verdict on Thursday morning, after deliberating since Monday afternoon. On Wednesday, they also asked the judge for clarification on the timeline of events.
Outside the courthouse, defence lawyer Christopher Hicks, who represented Barnett, said his client has "always been remorseful" for what happened the night Creba died.
"He obviously didn't want anybody to be harmed, he certainly didn't want an innocent person like Jane Creba to die," Hicks told reporters on Thursday morning.
Hicks noted that his client was not directly responsible for Creba's death.
"We know who did that, that was somebody else," Hicks said. "So I think this has to be factored into any sentence submissions that he did not directly apply lethal force to Jane Creba. His liability in this matter is somewhat remote, more remote than you usually have in a manslaughter."
Both the Crown and defence indicated appeals were a strong possibility.
"It's a very difficult section of the Criminal Code under which they were tried," Hicks said, adding the judge's instructions to the jury "posed a problem for everybody, including for her too, in fairness."
The Criminal Code section in question needs to be examined by an appeals court, he said.
Police reaction
The lead investigator on the case, Toronto police Sgt. Savas Kyriacou, gave credit to the jurors who were tasked with handing down a verdict in such a complicated case.
"We respect the decision of the jury and obviously they had very hard decisions to make," Kyriacou told reporters outside the courthouse.
Kyriacou said he had a chance to speak with the Creba family after the verdict came down.
"They expressed their thanks and gratitude and they are happy with the outcome and it is also an end to a chapter in this," he said.
Creba was out shopping with her family when she was caught in the gunfire of a shootout on Yonge Street involving a group of men on Dec. 26, 2005. The Grade 10 student was only 15 when she died.
Six other bystanders were wounded in the same shootout.
Two other men are serving life sentences for their part in the fatal gunfight that led to Creba's death.
Last December, Jeremiah Valentine pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Creba's death.
In 2008, Jorrell Simpson-Rowe was found guilty of second-degree murder.
With files from The Canadian Press and Sue Sgambati