Crown to argue man meant to kill cop with plow
TORONTO - The prosecution gets one last chance today to persuade a jury that a man accused of killing a Toronto police officer with a snowplow meant to do so.
To make its case, the Crown will have to rebut arguments from the defence that a delusional Richard Kachkar was psychotic.
In his closing, lawyer Bob Richardson argued Kachkar had completely lost touch with reality when he ran down Sgt. Ryan Russell with a snowplow two years ago.
He said three psychiatrists agreed Kachkar was simply not rational when he stole the plow and went on a two-hour rampage.
Richardson said the only conclusion is to find his client not criminally responsible for Russell's death.
However, he said if the jury disagrees, then manslaughter, not murder, should be their verdict.
"He lacked capacity to form criminal intent," Richardson told the jury Thursday.
"He wasn't operating in our world."
There's no dispute Kachkar, 46, struck and left a dying Russell, 35, bleeding in the snow early on Jan. 12, 2011.
But Richardson said Kachkar was paranoid and delusional, and had no intention of hurting Russell or anyone else.
"Whichever route the prosecutor is trying to get to murder here, it doesn't stick. It doesn't fly," Richardson said.
Kachkar didn't have time to form an intent to kill the officer in the seconds that passed after Russell stopped, got out of his cruiser, fired three shots and was hit by the plow, the lawyer said.
In fact, he said, he may have been trying to avoid Russell.
The Crown is expected to argue Kachkar was angry and frustrated, and knew what he was doing.
