Crown says Reno Lee's death was an execution, asks jury to find 3 men guilty of 1st-degree murder

Crown co-prosecutor Bill Jennings wrapped up hisclosing remarks Tuesday afternoon in the trial for three men accused in the shooting death and dismemberment of Reno Leeby arguing that the jury should find all three guilty of first-degree murder.

He advised thejury to use common sense and told them to believe the witnesses they've heard from over the weeks of the trial, which began on Jan. 22 in Regina's Court of Queen's Bench.

"You should convict them as charged," Jennings saidof the three accused.

Bronson Gordon, Daniel Theodore and AndrewBellegardehave pleaded not guilty to murdering Lee and committing an indignity to a body.

Police believe Reno Lee was killed on April 16, 2015, although they didn't find his remains in a shallow grave on Star Blanket First Nation until later that month.

Before Lee was taken to a home on Regina's Garnet Street, where it's alleged he was killed and dismembered, he had been at Gordon's home on Angus Road to broker a drug partnership, the trial has heard.

Instead, jurors heard, Lee was assaulted, confined and taken to the home in North Central, where he later diedfrom two gunshots to the head.

Gordon directed operation: Crown

"Lee was walking into a fatal trap"set byGordon andhisassociates, Jennings said, when he thought he was going to a drug-business deal.

"Two shots to the head that's no accident,"Jennings told jurors. "It was an execution."

He argued the jury should find Gordon guilty of first-degree murder because he lured Lee and made him the trio's prisoner.

"He was the directing mind, or certainly working in concert with the other two, from start to finish," said Jennings. "[Gordon] set the trapand had Bellegardeand Theodore carry it out."

Gordon's defencepainted him as a scapegoat, a victim anda bad drug dealer. Jennings suggested thatGordon is not credible, and that he tried to minimize his role, contradicted himself and gave self-serving evidence.

Jennings remindedthe jury of the several inconsistencies between what Gordon told police in 2015 and his testimony during the trial.

He talked about how Gordon allegedly comforted Bellegarde the morning afterLee was killed, despite claiming not to know what had happened after the group left his apartment.

Theodorehelped plan murder: Crown

Jennings suggestedGordon and Theodore were business partners. Gordoncouldn't leave the apartment because he was being electronically monitored with an ankle bracelet at the time. Jennings said that's when Theodore took over directing the operation.

He argued thatTheodore should also be found guilty of first-degree murder because he was deliberately involved in the planning, and the luring and killing of Lee.

Jennings also suggestedTheodore couldbe found guilty because of his participation in the forcible confinement of Lee, during which the man was shot and killed.

Jenningspointedto the "drug orgy"that happened at the Garnet Street home where Lee was confined andkilled. Theodore was not high at that time, the trialhas heard.

"That's because he had a job to do," Jennings said. "He stayed sober. He directed traffic."

The Crown prosecutor also suggested thatthe tools used to dismember Lee's body were brought into house by Theodore.

Jennings also referred to the testimony of a witness at the trial who cannot be named because of a publication ban.

She testified that during the dismemberment, Theodore came upstairs and gave herblue surgical gloves, telling her to shred and flush them. Theodore also instructed her to get theSUVthey were using, she said.

She testified that she saw Theodore andBellegarde struggleto get ahockey bag with Lee's remains into the vehicle.

Jennings said Theodore either pulled the trigger himself or helped Bellegarde do it.

Bellegarde was'muscle': prosecutor

Jennings saidLeewasn't just tied up in the basement where he was killed, but "was prevented from leaving by an armed gunman: AndrewBellegarde."

The prosecutorsaidBellegarde, like Theodore,shouldbe found guilty of first-degree murder becausehe deliberately participated inthe plan to kill Lee, or was at least a participant inthe forcible confinement that lead to Lee's death.

Jennings suggested that Gordon involvedBellegardein the plan asthe "muscle."

The witnesswho cannot be namedtestified that Bellegarde told her he was holding Lee's headwhile Theodore sawed the neck and a plastic bag slipped, exposing Lee's face and eyes. She said Bellegarde began dry heaving after this.

This witness said Bellegarde later complained about what he was allegedly paid by Gordon after the job was done.

Defenceargues for manslaughter

GeorgeCombe, Theodore's lawyer,spoke prior to Jennings on Tuesday. He saidthe other two accused in the trial were the driving forces behind Lee's death.

Combe said it was Bellegardewho shot Lee and that everyone inside the Garnet Street home was told to speak with Gordon.

According to Combe, Theodore was simply doing what he was told.

"[The events leading to Lee's death] started at Bronson Gordon's house ... my client was not there," Combe said.

Combe said his client is not guilty of first-degree murder, but suggested Theodore can be found guilty of manslaughter or second-degree murder. Combe said evidence only suggests that Theodore asked for materials to confine Lee at the house.

Justice Catherine Dawson willprovide instructions to the jury for their deliberationson Wednesday.