'Extremely disappointed': Family of homicide victim storms out of courtroom as judge reads decision

Family of homicide victim storms out of court Emotions boiled over at the courthouse when a judge acquitted two defendants in a manslaughter trial. CTV London's Reta Ismail reports.

Emotions boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died.

It's been exactly four years to the day that Scotty Pate, 27, was shot and killed on Ashland Avenue, south of Dundas Street in London, Ont.

Days following the shooting, London police arrested and charged three people. Denny Doucet, 40, Nicole Moyer, 35, of London, and Jason Sylvestre, 36, of Windsor.

All three people were charged with manslaughter in connection with Pate's death — all three were out on bail.

The judge-alone-trial began last October, and had been delayed a number of times.

Today, before reading her verdict, Justice Patricia Moore told the court she had sent off her decision for a final edit and on Sunday, she was notified that one of the three defendants, Sylvestre, passed away in a motorcycle crash last month in Windsor, Ont.

After reviewing all the evidence heard during the initial three-week trial last year, Moore said she could not rely on a central witness' testimony, who died before the court proceedings began.

The key witness, Chris McNeil, who had testified in a preliminary trial and was able to link all three of the accused together, said that on the day of Pate's death, he was asked by Sylvestre if he wanted to help him rob Pate, but he refused. He added that Moyer said she’d drive, and Doucet was there too.

On that same night McNeil got a call from a panicked Sylvestre who said, “Something went wrong.”

McNeil testified, “Jay [Sylvestre] said he wrapped a gun in his shirt and threw it under a dumpster and asked me to go get it.”

During the trial, court heard that Sylvestre tried-on a black t-shirt that was recovered by police, behind a tire shop on Dundas Street, next to a dumpster and wrapped around a handgun.

During his testimony, McNeil also said he received a call from accused Denny Doucet who told him to report the car stolen. But McNeil said he didn’t know the “car was used in murder.”

That vehicle was found, burnt out, with no forensic evidence to trace.

Justice Moore said based on McNeil’s lengthy criminal record, that included over 36 convictions and previous incidents where he lied to police, she felt it was "unsafe to convict based on his testimony."

Moore acquitted Doucet and Moyer of conspiracy to commit robbery and manslaughter, but told the court she would have convicted Sylvestre, of manslaughter in Pate’s death.

Before court proceedings began, Pate’s family members were told by Moyer’s lawyer not to threaten or speak to the defendant or they would be thrown out of the courtroom.

Additional court constables had to be called in during the proceedings.

After the verdict was read, Pate’s family began shouting at the defendants and stormed out of the courtroom visibly upset.

Speaking to CTV News shortly after the verdict was read, Pate’s Aunt Ronnette Moxley-Lee said their family is "extremely disappointed."

"That's another gut punch for the family… four years to the day, and we walk out of here with sad faces, and they get to go home to their families,” said Moxley-Lee.

Since Sylvestre passed away, the manslaughter charge against him has been abated.