THUNDER BAY - The verdict in the manslaughter trial against Jonathan Yellowhead for his alleged role in the 2018 death of 17-year-old Braiden Jacob is expected to be handed down in July.
The trial opened on April 4, 2022 before Justice Bonnie Warkentin and included seven days of testimony.
Justice Warkentin will deliver her verdict on July 29, 2022.
During the trial, the Crown attorney Heather Braken called 14 witnesses to testify and shared with the court video surveillance footage showing Yellowhead and Jacob together at an Arthur Street hotel in the early morning hours of Dec. 6, 2018, and again in the Limbrick Street area.
Jacob, of Webequie First Nation, was in Thunder Bay in December 2018 to seek counselling and he was first reported missing on Dec. 6, 2018. His body was later found on Dec. 9, 2018 in the Chapples Park area and a post-mortem examination determined he died as a result of hypothermia, blunt force trauma, and alcohol intoxication.
Yellowhead was arrested in his home community of Eabametoong First Nation on Dec. 14, 2018 and was initially charged with second-degree murder.
Braken said much of the evidence in the case was circumstantial but when taken as a whole it leads to the reasonable conclusion that Yellowhead is responsible for Jacob’s death.
The evidence used by the Crown includes the video surveillance footage placing Yellowhead and Jacob together the night of Dec. 6, 2018 at the Arthur Street hotel and the Limbrick Street area.
Other evidence includes bloodlike staining found in a residence in the Limbrick Street area and on a backpack carried by Yellowhead that produced a DNA profile of which Jacob could not be excluded. A witness testified to Yellowhead staying at the residence the night of Dec. 6, 2018.
Defense counsel Neil McCartney said there were several issues with the evidence presented by the Crown, including the timing of Jacob’s death, failures on the part of investigators to look into other persons of interest, and ongoing public criticism of the Thunder Bay Police Service at that time that he said resulted in pressure to lay a murder charge.
Yellowhead has also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of aggravated assault for an attack at the Thunder Bay District Jail in September 2019 that resulted in another inmate suffering serious injuries.
As part of the sentencing, the Crown is seeking an application for a dangerous offender assessment. The judge in that case has reserved his decision to grant the application until after the verdict in the manslaughter trial is given.
