NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. - A judge has found a man guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated assault in an attack more than three years ago on two students at a British Columbia high school.
Defence lawyer Martin Peters had argued in December that Gabriel Klein did not have the intent to kill a 13-year-old girl on Nov. 1, 2016, when he walked into the rotunda of Abbotsford Secondary School.
He urged Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the B.C. Supreme Court to find his client guilty of manslaughter, but she found Klein guilty of second-degree murder today.
Letisha Reimer died after being stabbed 14 times and her friend, who was also stabbed, suffered serious injuries, for which Klein has been charged with aggravated assault.
Peters said in his closing arguments the Crown proved its case in the assault against the girl whose name is under a publication ban, and Klein should be found guilty on that charge.
Surveillance videos seen in court showed Klein stealing alcohol from a liquor store and a hunting knife from a sporting goods store hours before the attack, and Peters said his client committed the thefts because he wanted to get drunk and use the weapon to stab a police officer in hopes of triggering a suicide-by-cop scenario.
