FATHER 'SAVED' DAUGHTER - LAWYER

Convicting Yorkton Man Of Murder Would Send Wrong Message, Defence
Says

YORKTON -- Kim Walker rescued his daughter from a drug addict's death
on the day he shot and killed her boyfriend, defence lawyer Morris
Bodnar said Tuesday as lawyers presented their final arguments to the
jury in Walker's first-degree murder trial.

Bodnar argued Walker, 50, who testified Monday he does not remember
the shooting, never intended to kill Yorkton drug dealer James Hayward.

While he took a pistol for protection, the only reason Walker went to
Hayward's house on March 17, 2003, was to get back his 16-year-old
daughter, Jadah, whose health had deteriorated significantly after
becoming an addict while living with Hayward, said Bodnar.

"He did it. He saved her. If he had not gone to 64 Agricultural Avenue
. . . if she had died, what would you have said? 'Where were the parents?' "

Bodnar said he wasn't calling for "open season on drug dealers" but
convicting his client of murder would send the wrong message.

He said the family had gone to the RCMP for help and had received a
Mental Health Act warrant to have Jadah committed for short-term
assessment in the days before the shooting.

Walker shot Hayward the day Jadah was released from the Yorkton
hospital's psychiatric unit and friends picked her up from her
parent's house and reunited her with Hayward at his home.

The Saskatoon lawyer said he felt sympathy for Hayward's family, who
sat in the courtroom, but Hayward was "killing people" by selling drugs.

"He was that close to killing that girl in the front row," he said,
referring to Jadah Walker, now 20, who sat with family members.

But Crown prosecutor Daryl Bode said that while the jury may not like
Hayward or what he did, there is no such thing as "a second-class
murder victim" under the law.

"He was somebody's son," Bode said in his closing address.

"The moment we devalue life . . . that's the moment we betray
ourselves. We start down a slippery slope to becoming a society we
don't want to be."

Bode said the case was about facts, not emotion, and all of Walker's
actions indicate he planned to kill Hayward.

Walker loaded bullets into magazines, removed a pistol from lock and
key, took extra ammunition with the gun to Hayward's home, parked
carefully and fired his gun 10 times, even when Hayward was already
hit and down on the floor, said Bode.

One of the five gunshot wounds that killed Hayward was in the back at
close range.

The prosecutor also pointed to a witness' testimony that, four days
before the shooting, Walker had said he would love to "blow James'
head off."

All of that adds up to first-degree murder, even if Walker doesn't
remember the shooting, he said.

"He killed James because he wanted him dead. It would end all his
troubles."

But Bodnar said his client shouldn't "be pigeonholed with the Paul
Bernardos of the world and others charged with first-degree murder."

The jury could reach a verdict of manslaughter -- that Walker caused
Hayward's death but did not intend to kill him, he said.

Bodnar asked the jury why, if his client planned to kill Hayward, did
he do it in the middle of the day, with witnesses, and then try to
call the police himself at a neighbour's house.

The defence lawyer said witness testimony that Walker said to his
daughter "let's go" just before the shooting also shows his intent was
not to kill Hayward.

Walker testified he remembers Hayward coming toward him with a look of
hatred on his face. Bodnar said Walker had reason to think the
one-time award-winning bodybuilder may be violent after he made
threatening calls to the Walkers.

But Bode said none of the witnesses to the shooting indicated Hayward
had done anything beyond reasonable actions directing Walker to leave
his house.

The court has heard Hayward sold marijuana, used morphine, had four
convictions for drug offences and had spent seven months in jail for
trafficking.

Witnesses have also described him as a "nice guy" who did not have a
history of violence, said Bode.

The eight-woman, four-man jury will begin deliberations after Justice
Jennifer Pritchard of the Court of Queen's Bench gives them her
instructions this morning.