A young person admitted shooting the victim in the back of the head inside a bar, but disputed first-degree murder and argued that the killing and related firearm offence were excused by duress.
The court held the Crown proved murder but not planning and deliberation beyond a reasonable doubt, given doubt about whether a threat from the drug supplier may have affected the accused's ability to deliberate; a conviction for second-degree murder was entered instead.
Assuming duress was legally available, the court found the Crown disproved essential elements of the defence, particularly the absence of a safe avenue of escape and the criminal-association limitation, because obvious lawful alternatives existed and the accused knowingly remained in a violent drug-trafficking enterprise.
The court declined to decide the constitutional challenge to s. 17 of the Criminal Code as moot and convicted on the firearm counts that remained in issue.
