Sask. top court overturns gang member murder conviction it describes as 'miscarriage of justice'

The province's top court is overturning a second-degree murder conviction against Saskatoon gang member Brandin Brick who shot a rival in 2018.

"I agree that a miscarriage of justice occurred due to the ineffective conduct of Mr. Brick's trial counsel," Court of Appeal Justice Jillyne Drennan wrote in a recent decision.

"On that basis, I would grant Mr. Brick's appeal, quash his conviction, and remit the matter to the Court of King's Bench."

Brick had been charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting death of James Chaisson. It came out at trial that Brick was a member of the Terror Squad gang, while Chaisson was a member of rival gang the Saskatchewan Warriors.

• Accused murderer Brandin Brick and alleged victim James Chaisson came from rival gangs, trial hears

The Crown's theory at trial was that Brick, along with three others, drove to a 7-Eleven in Saskatoon where they met Chaisson. Brick then forced Chaisson into the vehicle by threatening him with a firearm and eventually shot Chaisson in the vehicle, unprovoked, with the other passengers present, the Crown argued.

At trial, a clerk at the 7-Eleven testified that it appeared Chaisson willingly got into the car.

Brick was found guilty of second-degree murder at his judge-alone trial in 2020. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years. The judge decided on second-degree murder because he didn't believe that Chaisson was confined in the car, or that the shooting had been planned and deliberate.

Brick appealed, claiming that his lawyer Patrick McDougall had not properly advised him about self defence and had detemined "that Mr. Brick was lying, without obtaining Mr. Brick's account of the events underpinning the self-defence claim."

Brick swore in an affidavit that he told McDougall shortly after the shooting, and then again mid trial, that Chaisson had pointed a firearm at him in the car first.

After he was shot and lay dying on the street, a passerby stole Chaisson's backpack, so a potential weapon couldn't be recovered.

Brick also said McDougall advised him against testifying.

"He cited the reasons for this advice being that Mr. Brick had a history with violence and drug use, as well as gang involvement. He believed the Crown would be able to 'seriously damage' Mr. Brick's credibility and reliability in cross-examination," Justice Drennan wrote.

McDougall told the Court of Appeal that there was no evidence to support Brick's claim that he acted in self defence.

However, after the conviction, Justin Dreaver, one of the men in the car, came forward.

"Mr. Dreaver's evidence is that after he learned that Mr. Brick had been convicted of Mr. Chaisson's murder, he felt compelled to come forward to say that he had witnessed Mr. Chaisson pull a firearm on Mr. Brick and attempt to rob him in the vehicle," Justice Drennan wrote.

The combination of the advice from McDougall to Brick concerning testifying, and the new evidence from Dreaver, warranted overturning the conviction and sending the case back to Court of King's Bench on the charge of second-degree murder, the ruling said.