SASKATOON — A judge has found a man who set up a gang shooting that targeted the wrong house and killed a Saskatoon woman guilty of first-degree murder.
Joshua Petrin has also been convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.
Lorry Santos died in 2012 when she was hit while looking out her front window as she and her husband were getting their children up in the morning.
The Crown had argued that Petrin did not have to be the one who pulled the trigger to be found guilty.
Court heard that Petrin ordered two men to kill a former gang associate, but they went to the wrong address and gunned down the 34-year-old Santos instead.
The two men who killed the mother of four are serving a life sentence in prison.
Santos was killed when Randy O'Hagan rang her doorbell and unloaded a .40-calibre Glock pistol through the front bay window of the home. A second gunman fired at the side of the house.
During Petrin's trial, court heard from several witnesses who admitted to being affiliated with him in the drug trade. They all testified that he was a high-ranking member of the White Boy Posse street gang and that TJ Cromartie was Petrin's right-hand man selling cocaine.
Cromartie took off in the summer of 2012. Petrin's former girlfriend, Karissa Dow, testified that Petrin was furious. Two other witnesses told court Petrin offered them incentives to find Cromartie.
Another witness, who can't be named due to a publication ban, said Petrin repeatedly instructed the two gunmen to find Cromartie and "blast" him.
Petrin's defence lawyer opted not to call any witnesses. In his closing arguments, Brian Pfefferle questioned the credibility of the Crown's witnesses, as well as the tactics used by police during their investigation.
Prosecutor Matthew Miazga acknowledged the witnesses were problematic due to their criminal pasts, histories of substance abuse and various incentives given to them to testify. But he argued there was enough evidence from other sources to back up their testimony.
