CALGARY — A Calgary judge has found a man who fatally shot a homeless restaurant worker during a failed robbery guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, ruling the Crown failed to prove he intended to kill his victim.According to CBC, 28-year-old Robert Matthews was convicted Tuesday in the death of 33-year-old Jordan Jacques-Vetten, who was shot in Calgary's Capitol Hill neighbourhood in September 2023 after refusing to hand over his backpack.Matthews admitted during his trial that he fired the fatal shot but argued through his lawyer that he was guilty of manslaughter, not second-degree murder.In a decision delivered Tuesday, Court of King's Bench Justice Lisa Silver agreed, finding the evidence established Matthews intended to cause bodily harm but did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he possessed the intent necessary for a murder conviction.While Silver found Matthews "wanted to commit crimes that night and was willing to commit violence," she concluded the Crown had only established that he fired the gun with the intent to inflict bodily harm..Michigan parents charged with murder after 7-year-old boy dies weighing 255 pounds.Matthews will be sentenced at a later date.Court heard that in the early morning hours of Sept. 9, 2023, Matthews and a 17-year-old accomplice, identified only as CD due to a publication ban, set out with a plan to rob ATMs.Shortly before 4 a.m., the pair encountered Jacques-Vetten as he walked through the northwest Calgary neighbourhood of Capitol Hill.Jacques-Vetten, who was experiencing homelessness, had recently secured work as a line cook at a downtown restaurant and was returning home from a shift when he crossed paths with Matthews and CD."Mr. Vetten was walking home with his life's belongings in his backpack," Silver wrote in her decision.The backpack contained personal items including toiletries, his birth certificate and a bottle of Febreze. He also carried identification from a local homeless shelter.The court heard Matthews and CD demanded the backpack. When Jacques-Vetten refused to surrender it, Matthews shot him..Calgary man charged with manslaughter in fatal drug overdose of 16-year-old girl .A key witness for the Crown was a girl identified in court documents as AB, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. She testified Matthews later told her he shot Jacques-Vetten because he "didn't give up his belongings."According to her testimony, Matthews also told her he was "in big trouble" and could be going to jail, instructing her to check local news reports.Silver also accepted evidence that Matthews authored a handwritten confession later discovered by police in a garbage bin at CD's residence.In the note, Matthews wrote: "Last night I shot a man in the upper torso because he wouldn't give me his backpack."The letter continued with Matthews describing hearing a "gurgling" sound and expressing hope that the victim had died.The judge concluded the note, along with other evidence presented at trial, supported a conviction for manslaughter.CD was previously convicted of manslaughter and received a three-year youth sentence.Matthews has also pleaded guilty in a separate case involving the stabbing of a correctional officer with a homemade weapon while being held at the Calgary Remand Centre awaiting trial. He received an eight-month sentence for that offence earlier this year.
