VANCOUVER — The Crown is urging jurors to find no reasonable doubt when they decide the fate of a man who confessed to killing a 12-year-old girl in British Columbia in 1978.
In closing arguments at the B.C. Supreme Court murder trial of Garry Handlen, Crown counsel Gordon Matei told the jury that an undercover officer did not coerce the man to admit he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Monica Jack.
Handlen has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder but confessed in 2014 in a videotaped recording heard in court that he grabbed the girl while she was riding her bike near Merritt.
Matei told the jury that Handlen expressed relief after his detailed confession, saying he could point to the spot where he abducted Jack, 36 years after he said he forced her into his truck.
He said Handlen had no need to continue working for a supposed crime group set up in a RCMP sting operation because he had lots of work as a handyman.
Matei said Handlen's main motivation for confessing to the girl's murder was to avoid prosecution because he had been told police had evidence against him.