Deliberations are expected to begin following the judge’s charge to the jury Tuesday morning.
THUNDER BAY — Whether or not Daniel Keefe acted reasonably to protect himself when he fatally stabbed Aiden Cunningham will soon be up to a jury to decide.
Keefe is charged with second-degree murder in the June 25, 2022 death of 19-year-old Cunningham.
The two got into a physical altercation inside the door of Keefe’s Crown Street residence and Cunningham was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
Cunningham was stabbed twice in the chest; one stab wound fatally struck his heart.
Keefe called 911 immediately following the incident, saying: “He attacked me. I didn’t want to hurt him. I was too scared. I just didn’t want to get hurt.”
“You should have these words of Daniel echoing in your minds as you deliberate on this issue,” defence lawyer George Joseph told the jury as he made his closing submission on Monday at the Thunder Bay Courthouse.
Joseph said it is the Crown’s obligation to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Keefe, who was 18 at the time of the incident, didn’t act in self-defence.
“Daniel doesn’t have to prove a single thing,” said Joseph.
If the jury doesn’t believe it was self-defence, they then must determine whether Keefe had the intention to kill and if he didn’t, then they must acquit him of the murder charge and instead find him guilty of manslaughter.
Joseph urged the jury to review video exhibits shown during the trial of Cunningham attacking Keefe in a separate, earlier incident where Keefe does not fight back.
“Every creature on the planet has a basic natural instinct of self-preservation,” said Joseph in his submissions.
On June 25, 2022, the two young men were engaged in a physical altercation and Joseph argued the stabbings occurred for one purpose – “to end the violence.”
During the trial, the court heard that Keefe had a kitchen knife with an eight-centimetre blade in his pocket.
Joseph equated having the knife in his pocket to sleeping with a baseball bat beside a person’s bed or carrying pepper spray in a purse.
“That doesn’t mean you’re all potentially violent people,” he stated. “It just means you are taking precautions.”
It was a sudden, unprovoked, unexpected and brief violent encounter, said Joseph, adding it did not call for calm, reflected measures.
“This was a tragic event. One young man is dead. Another young man’s fate is held in the balance. Aiden Cunningham did not deserve to die,” said Joseph. “But Daniel should not be blamed for it.”
Crown lawyer Simon McNaughton argued this case is “murder, plain and simple” and the jury should find Keefe guilty.
McNaughton said the two young men were in a fistfight and it doesn’t really matter who started it. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if it was Cunningham who started the altercation.
However, he said the stabbing was not for self-defence but was an escalation of the violence.
“It was very clearly not Mr. Keefe’s purpose to protect himself,” McNaughton said.
The Crown argued Keefe could have run away within his own home or try to de-escalate the situation.
“But without warning, (Keefe) took out a knife and stabbed him,” said McNaughton.
McNaughton said Cunningham was a “violent guy” and dangerous and Mr. Keefe chose to let him in his house.
He also noted it was not a folding knife, but a fixed-blade knife, in Keefe’s pocket and argued Keefe called 911 to get out ahead of the situation and say it was self-defence.
McNaughton said Keefe changes the use of pronoun he uses from “he” to “them” frequently throughout the 911 call and submitted that Keefe’s story is not coherent.
“It does not fit together,” said McNaughton. “He’s making it up on the fly in order to present himself as sympathetic as possible.”
In closing, McNaughton said Keefe using the knife was a dramatic escalation and the point was to win.
“This case isn’t about what Aiden deserved,” he said. “This isn’t Aiden’s trial. This case is about Daniel Keefe and what Daniel Keefe did.”
Deliberations are expected to begin following the judge’s charge to the jury Tuesday morning.
None of the allegations against the accused have been proven in court.
source tbnewswatch