James Rajbhandari should be found not guilty of murdering Wyatt Lewis: lawyer

Common sense should prevail when 12 men and women decide if James Rajbhandari is guilty of murder, says his lawyer.

Alain Hepner made his closing submissions to the jury on Tuesday in Rajbhandari's second-degree murder trial. He's accused of stabbing Wyatt Lewis to death at a house party in 2012.

"At the end of the day, you cannot have anything but a reasonable doubt," saidHepner when urging the jury to acquit his client.

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The Crown's star witness' story changed when he was questioned by the prosecution and Hepner, calling into question issues of identification,

That witness who testified he had 20 drinks the night of the attack and had been up for more than30 hoursinitially identifiedRajbhandari as the one who stabbed Lewis, but recanted parts of his story under cross examination.

"Don't leave your common sense at the door," said Hepner. "If you say, 'Well maybe he did it' that's not good enough."

Lewis had been out with an old friend when theywere invited to a party at an apartment building on16thAvenueN.W.

A fight broke out between a couple of the partygoers,people were ordered out of the apartmentandin the chaosof a mass exodus, Lewis was stabbed, according to prosecutorMarta Juzwiak.

"I expect that once you consider the wounds on Wyatt Lewis's body, you will conclude that James Rajbhandari meant to kill Wyatt Lewis," said Juzwiak.

When policeinterviewed Rajbhandari, he had fresh cuts on his hands and his blood was found on a knife that had been hidden on the apartment balcony.

A second man was also stabbed but survived.

The jury will begin its deliberations after the judge's instructions on Wednesday.