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American found not guilty in city knife attack |
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Written by Pamela Roth LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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Friday, June 26 2009, 9:06 PM |
A jury has found an American man not guilty of slashing his drugged-up friend in the throat with a knife during an early morning scuffle last fall.
The five-day trial for Justin Davin Kurz wrapped up in Lethbridge on Friday with the jury finding the 33-year-old not guilty of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon.
During his testimony earlier this week, 35-year-old Jamie Evans told the court he and Kurz had become good friends through work and smoked crack cocaine together on occasion.
On the night of Oct. 26, Evans said he had been on a drug binge for more than a week when he went over to Kurz’s basement suite in the 300 block of 7 Avenue South.
According to Evans, Kurz was not on drugs, but had been drinking when Evans fell asleep and awoke to find Kurz standing before him with a knife in his hand and struck at his face, initiating an altercation.
Evans said he was cut with the knife before he managed to stagger upstairs and go to a nearby convenience store for help. Nothing was said during the scuffle, said Evans, who described Kurz as a non-violent person and had never seem him act in an aggressive manner.
Kurz’s passive demeanour was further amplified by his 74-year-old landlord, who observed Evans with blood on his face as he was leaving the property on the night in question. The woman said Kurz had lived in the residence for about two years and described him as gentle, kind and respectful. The pair appeared to be close friends, she added.
A 46-year-old woman working at the Neighbours’ Petro Canada gas station downtown was dealing with a customer when Evans came in looking panicked and covered in blood. Paramedics arrived shortly to take Evans, who was having difficulty breathing, to the hospital where doctors tended to a gaping wound from ear to ear on his neck, along with a wound to the back of his head, and several knicks to his hand and face.
A trail of blood down the sidewalk led police to the location where Evans had been stabbed. Inside the home, investigators found pools of blood on the floor of the bedroom, along with splatters of blood on the walls, stove and ceiling. A steak knife with a bent blade, a knife handle coated with blood and the blade of a knife were also recovered from the home, along with blood-stained clothing.
Police later arrested Kurz when he went to work. He was found with a small cut on his chest and hand, and a few markings on his knuckles.
When it was time for Kurz to testify before the court, a different story emerged.
Kurz, who is a recovering drug addict, but was using cocaine six days prior to the incident, said he was sober when Evans came to his house around midnight and offered him a video camera to reduce a hefty debt he owed him. Kurz said Evans left but came back around 2:30 a.m. with a bag of crack cocaine and got high. Shortly after, Evans began acting strange, noted Kurz, and asked him to hook up the television. That’s when he grabbed a knife and stated, “I hate you Dayna. I want to kill you. I wish you were dead” as he approached the accused.
Kurz acted in self defence by throwing a few punches, and eventually picked up a knife in an attempt to chase Evans out of the home. During the altercation, Kurz said Evans cut his own throat when he leaned forward on the knife. He had no intentions of cutting him during the struggle and was simply defending himself.
Kurz didn’t call police after the incident because he was not lawfully in Canada. He has been in custody since October on an immigration warrant and will most likely be deported back to the U.S.
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