With closing arguments full, a decide is anticipated to supply directions to the jury Wednesday within the first-degree homicide trial of Michael Clairoux and Lee Marrazzo.
Printed Jan 07, 2025 • Final up to date 5 hours in the past • 4 minute learn
. .
A 2021 picture from the Ontario Provincial Police of Greg Slewidge, who was discovered lifeless in September 2020. Michael Clairoux and Lee Marrazzo face charges of first-degree homicide in reference to Slewidge’s dying. Picture by Ontario Provincial Police /Handout
Article content material
The 2 masked males who killed Gregory Slewidge inside a marijuana grow-op made “one enormous mistake:” They wrongly believed outdated safety cameras on the constructing weren’t working, a courtroom heard Tuesday.
In his closing tackle, Crown lawyer Matthew Humphreys mentioned the cameras’ high-definition video supplied conclusive proof that Michael Clairoux and Lee Marrazzo had been accountable for “the cowardly ambush and murder” of Slewidge on the afternoon of Sept. 23, 2020.
This commercial has not loaded but, however your article continues under.
.
Unique articles from Elizabeth Payne, David Pugliese, Andrew Duffy, Bruce Deachman and others. Plus, meals evaluations and occasion listings within the weekly e-newsletter, Ottawa, Out of Workplace.Limitless on-line entry to Ontario Chronicle and 15 information websites with one account. Ontario Chronicle ePaper, an digital duplicate of the print version to view on any gadget, share and touch upon.Each day puzzles, together with the New York Occasions Crossword.Assist native journalism.
.
Unique articles from Elizabeth Payne, David Pugliese, Andrew Duffy, Bruce Deachman and others. Plus, meals evaluations and occasion listings within the weekly e-newsletter, Ottawa, Out of Workplace.Limitless on-line entry to Ontario Chronicle and 15 information websites with one account. Ontario Chronicle ePaper, an digital duplicate of the print version to view on any gadget, share and touch upon.Each day puzzles, together with the New York Occasions Crossword.Assist native journalism.
.
….
.
.
Entry articles from throughout Canada with one accountShare your ideas and be part of the dialog within the commentsEnjoy further articles per monthGet electronic mail updates out of your favorite authors
or
Article content material
The 2 males are charged collectively with first-degree homicide within the case, which has been heard within the Perth courthouse.
“It is unbiased and unflinching,” Humphreys mentioned of the safety footage. “The cameras captured all of the details Mr. Clairoux and Mr. Marrazzo failed to hide because they didn’t think it necessary.”
The lads, he argued, would by no means have dedicated the crime in broad daylight had they suspected the cameras had been operational.
Though the boys within the video had their faces partially lined by medical masks, Humphreys mentioned, it was clear from their uncovered pores and skin, hair, physique sorts and different bodily options that one man was the “spitting image” of Clairoux and the opposite of Marrazzo.
It’s the Crown’s concept that the 2 mates, Clairoux and Marrazzo, had been employed by a member of the Purple Devils Motorbike Membership to kill Slewidge, a former membership member, to finish some sort of private feud.
Court docket has heard two males — one holding a size of yellow rope and the opposite with a gun — slipped right into a rural industrial constructing on Scotch Corners Highway in Beckwith Township on Sept. 23, 2020, and attacked Slewidge. The constructing housed a authorized marijuana grow-op.
Night Replace
!
Article content material
This commercial has not loaded but, however your article continues under.
Article content material
The next day, Slewidge’s physique was discovered on the ground with the nylon rope wrapped 3 times round his neck and a knife in the midst of his again. He had $2,410 in his pocket.
Slewidge, 39, a father of a nine-year-old woman, was days away from changing into a full-patch member of Hells Angels Motorbike Membership.
Attorneys for the defendants each prompt Slewidge could have been killed by the Hells Angels.
Humphreys instructed the jury proof introduced on the trial had established past an affordable doubt that the person holding the yellow rope within the video, individual primary, was Clairoux.
He highlighted similarities between pictures taken of Clairoux earlier than and after the homicide and of the person pictured within the safety footage. Amongst different issues, Humphreys mentioned, they shared the identical pores and skin and hair color, the identical stature, physique kind, hairline, jawline and neck markings: a mole and freckle.
What’s extra, he mentioned, three footage entered into proof proved Clairoux owned the identical baseball hat, promoting Tijuana Candy Warmth Tequila, worn by individual primary.
Proof additionally established, Humphrey mentioned, that Clairoux owned the identical sort of sneakers, key chain and chrome-knuckle gloves worn by individual primary.
This commercial has not loaded but, however your article continues under.
Article content material
Through the two-month trial, Clairoux testified in his personal defence and flatly denied being concerned within the homicide. He mentioned he was in Ottawa, working in a wooden store, on the time.
However Clairoux admitted the killer within the safety video was in possession of his key chain. He prompt the killer will need to have stolen, then returned his keys with out his data.
Humphreys known as that rationalization “preposterous” and urged the jury to reject Clairoux’s testimony as nugatory.
The Crown lawyer instructed courtroom 11 items of proof tied Marrazzo to the crime, together with safety video of the “unique Mohawk-style haircut” of individual quantity two. That individual had a Mohawk with bald spots on both facet of his head, and a hoop of darkish hair, very similar to pictures of Marrazzo from that point.
“Mr. Marrazzo’s hairstyle is a unique signature,” Humphreys argued.
Humphreys mentioned Marrazzo and individual quantity two additionally shared the identical sort of beard and facial options, together with torn denims and work boots tied to him by means of footage and video entered into proof.
What’s extra, he mentioned, Marrazzo owned a black Cadillac CTS, a mannequin in line with a automobile seen on safety video from the homicide scene.
This commercial has not loaded but, however your article continues under.
Article content material
DNA proof drawn from the yellow rope additionally established a potential connection to Marrazzo, Humphreys mentioned. He mentioned the DNA proof supplied “a compelling connection” between Marrazzo and the homicide scene, notably when thought of alongside all the different proof linking him to the crime.
Earlier on Tuesday, Marrazzo’s defence lawyer, Paolo Giancaterino, accomplished his ultimate tackle, telling jurors that the Crown had did not disprove his shopper’s alibi: that he was in Ottawa on the time of the homicide.
Giancaterino famous that cellphone data, obtained by police, established that Marrazzo’s telephone was in Ottawa, within the neighborhood of Carp Highway, on the afternoon Slewidge was killed.
Within the months following the homicide, Giancaterino famous, Marrazzo didn’t attempt to cover or clear his automobile, and continued his friendship with Clairoux at the same time as police adopted and surveilled the 2.
“His behaviour is entirely consistent and supportive of his innocence,” Giancaterino argued.
Ontario Superior Court docket Justice Choose Brian Abrams was anticipated to ship ultimate directions to the jury Wednesday.
Andrew Duffy is a Nationwide Newspaper Award-winning reporter and long-form function author based mostly in Ottawa. To assist his work, together with unique content material for subscribers solely, enroll right here: ottawacitizen.com/subscribe
Article content material
Share this text in your social community
