Monday, June 28, 2010

Defence stand by claim of mutual engagement

During the closing arguments, lawyers for the three defendants stood by their claim that Jay Philips was an equal participant in the fight. They even went as far as to say that Jay Philips was the one who had the motivation to “pick a fight.”

I don’t think whether or not Jay Phillips picked a fight is important. What I’m mainly concerned about is the, alleged, unprovoked verbal and racist attack that Jay suffered before the fight. The crown prosecutor, Bob Richardson, claimed that Adam Huber assumed Jay Phillips was a drug dealer when he saw Philips taking with a teenaged boy. That was when Phillips claimed the three men all threatened to lynch him and called him “Nigger”.

That right there scares me. You can be minding your own business and then be falsely accused and threatened with a lynching reminiscent of the American Deep South decades ago. This is not what I want to see in our community and should not be tolerated. As seen in pictures on Facebook, these young men like to revel in the culture of the Deep South, including having pictures taken in a room full of racist imagery and burning crosses.

Lawyer for Rob Rogers, Doug Marion, who specializes in criminal defense, closed his submission by saying that Philips could had walked from the fight if he wanted to. However, the YouTube video started with two men advancing as Philips was backing away.

Doug Marion went on to say, “You can see him in the video, he’s backing away but his arms are open and he’s screaming ‘come on!’ and then pointing to his chest. The reality is, that is consent.” I disagree with his comment and find some fallacies with his logic.

  • It shouldn’t be considered “consent” if you’ve been backing away from 3 advancing men for 43 seconds.

  • You can’t blame a man for calling action after being verbally assaulted with the word “Nigger” and threated with death by lynching.

  • Justin Smith took the time to back the truck up into a parking spot across the street. Which means they planned to stay a while when they stopped to confront Jay Philips.

Is Jay the bad guy to wanting to fight back? No, he was just defending himself and his personal safety. Anyone would do the same in his shoes.

In Jay’s defence, Bob Richardson said Jay’s actions were within reason and said that, “at that point [Jay’s] got no choice but to engage these people.” He also added that Jay “was trying to make himself bigger to face the danger that was there.”





Both defense and crown consul tried to distrust each other witness’ testimony. Bob Richardson pointed how

  1. Rob Rodgers originally denied drinking before the incident. He ended up confessing he had, “maybe six beer and couple of shots of tequila. “

  2. Adam Huber denied using the word “Nigger,” but later admitted that it “may had been said” and if it was, it was only to describe Jay as a loser. (Funny: when was it okay to liken someone to being a loser by calling them Nigger? I think Adam needs some racial sensitivity education. In fact, all three men involved should take a racial sensitivity course. I’ve said in the past, I think they should travel world in order to respect other cultures and races)

  3. Jay Philips also reported to have disappeared into his apartment when police arrived and then leaving through a back window. It maybe strange behaviour, but doesn’t explain how it related to how this physical engagement started.

  4. Defence lawyer, Doug Marion also attacked Jay’s credibility by saying his heroin addiction and robbery conviction 10 years ago now leaves everything claimed by Jay untrustworthy.

  5. I find it ironic how, Doug Marion, who is a criminal defence lawyer himself, does not believe in second chances. Don’t believe that old adage “You can’t change a man.” People can and have been rehabilitated from a criminal past, despite what Doug Marion suggest from Jay Philips criminal record.



Another court date is now scheduled for July 8th, 2010

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