Crown says Freeman lashed out in anger, defence says it was kill or be killed

An angry Ronald Freeman was armed with a steak knife and a "kill or be killed" attitude when he encountered and stabbed Patrice Gregoire multiple times on the night of July 17, 2014, jurors were told Thursday.

He intended to kill Gregoire and didn't do it in self-defence, prosecutor Dana Peterson maintained in her closing address at the 48-year-old man's second-degree murder trial.

Freeman "stabbed an unarmed man, a complete stranger, 19 times, fractured four ribs, injured his liver and other vital organs," and as a result of these injuries and blood loss Gregoire, 46, died, she said, arguing that the accused is guilty of the charge.

Defence counsel Ken Walker insisted "this is self-defence, pure and simple," telling the jury Freeman doesn't deny his actions caused the other man's death, but denies murder.

"If one can't use self-defence when almost beaten to death you have to wonder when you can," he said during his one-hour, 45-minute address, calling on the jurors to find Freeman not guilty if they had a reasonable doubt.

He questioned why Freeman would be the aggressor and go after Gregoire, someone he didn't know and had no history with, a "street brawler" who was larger and weighed more than his client.

During the trial, which began Oct. 18, the court heard from a number of Crown and defence witnesses about what they observed that night in Jamestown, where the two men, both of whom were intoxicated, became embroiled in an altercation.

Earlier, Freeman's girlfriend Tanya Pearce, who testified, had complained about him to friends at nearby Al's Corner Pub.

One of the people she spoke to was the now deceased Mike Yaroshuk, a friend of Gregoire's.

She left the bar and returned to Freeman's apartment at 181 James St., where she revealed she had told Yaroshuk that he abused her.

They argued and Pearce said Freeman assaulted her, and told her to pack her stuff and get out. She returned to the bar, where Gregoire was drinking and again spoke to people there about Freeman.

Walker argued that Freeman left his apartment with a steak knife, because he thought Yaroshuk was coming after him, but instead, Yaroshuk's friend Gregoire came after him.

"What he does do with the knife? Should he toss it aside? That's ludicrous," he said, suggesting that Freeman did the only thing he could do — stab Gregoire who continued to punch him and inflict injury on him.

Stabbing the deceased was "reasonable, rational," the defence lawyer said. 

"The number of times he used the knife is consistent with the desperate situation he finds himself in and the intensity of it, the ferocity of the struggle."

Walker also suggested that maybe Freeman's actions were a primal reaction, a basic instinct to save himself.

He had a collapsed lung and was having difficulty breathing with a 200-pound man on top of him, banging his head on the cement, the defence said.

"There is no flight option here, just fight," he said. "That could have come into play."

Walker argued that Gregoire was angry, supported Pearce and wanted justice for her.

Peterson countered that the altercation occurred because Freeman was "in a complete state of anger" following his argument with Pearce.

"He was pissed, he had no booze, no dope and he'd just kicked her out."

Following his arrest, Freeman told a city police detective that he believed Pearce had gone to the pub and she was going to talk to people there about what had happened.

When asked why he had taken the knife with him, he replied that "someone's coming here to hurt me and I'm going to hurt them right back," Peterson told the jurors.

Freeman could have stayed there, but took a knife and left the safety of his apartment, she said.

Within 10 minutes of Pearce leaving he had interacted with Gregoire, who told the woman when he saw Freeman approaching them that he was going to talk to him.

A security video showed Freeman walking along the pedestrian way with a knife in his right hand, and Peterson asked the jurors if that looked like the walk of a scared man.

Freeman walked over there "as bold as bold as could be," the assistant Crown attorney said during her 70-minute address, not as a "cowardly weakling, a scaredy cat."

Walker had suggested that the six-foot-two, 190-pound Gregoire, a street brawler, was the aggressor, and the 135-pound Freeman was skinny and physically weak, not a fighter and not in an angry, hostile mood that day.

Gregoire "initiated the altercation. That's not a far fetched idea," he said.

The defence said his client received two broken ribs, a collapsed lung, an injured jaw bone and contusions to his face in the altercation.

Gregoire was big, mad and throwing the boot at Freeman, who grabbed his leg and "they fell to the ground," he said.

The deceased was on top of Freeman, whose face was being pummeled.

Freeman didn't want to kill him, but it was do or die, kill or be killed, and he admitted he shanked Gregoire 15 or more times, Walker said.

When he told police about what occurred, Freeman said "I may be a drunk and a pothead but I know what happened."

"He's giving it straight, the good, the bad and the ugly," Walker said.

Freeman told one officer that he didn't walk around with knives, but knew he was going to get hurt, that someone was coming to 'kick his ass.'

There was no evidence he was out to get someone or looking for a fight and that he was going to use the knife, Walker said. "We don't know his intentions."

Peterson countered that no one knows how the fight started, but Gregoire wasn't thinking it was a kill or be killed situation as Freeman later indicated he was.

She pointed out that Freeman was no stranger to fighting either and in his interview with police named six men he had fought with in the past.

He was angry when he used violence on Pearce, and angry minutes later when he decided to walk up to Gregoire, the prosecutor said, adding "we don't know for certain who made the first move."

Peterson urged the jurors to review the notes, audio and video of Freeman's interviews with police.

Freeman told officers Gregoire came at him, "lunging at me with his boot," he fell and "I thought you're going to get the f...ing knife" and that he shanked him an estimated 15 times.

"All I know is I wanted someone to hurt as I had the last two and a half years."

This was vengeful, not force to protect or defend oneself, Peterson said.

Gregoire had 11 stab wounds on his right flank. 

These weren't little jabs, but required significant force to penetrate Gregoire's clothing, skin and muscle, she said.

These wounds perforated his abdominal cavity. There were three horizontal wounds to his liver, damage to his right kidney and three fractured ribs from being stabbed with a steak knife.

"Weak, puny Mr. Freeman. I don't think so," she said, adding Gregoire was fighting for his life and he didn't have a weapon.

Freeman was stabbing and stabbing, and all Gregoire could do was punch, and gave Freeman a black eye and a laceration to his face, Peterson said, adding she wasn't dismissing the fractured ribs he received.

Gregoire was under attack with a knife and was certainly allowed to use force to repel the attack, she said.

She reminded jurors that Freeman had told a police officer that he shanked Gregoire, then stopped and said "smash me....I was born for this, born for pain, hit me again."

Freeman was "taunting him, laughing at him," she said. "He's not trying to stop the punching, he's literally asking for it."

When police arrived, they found Gregoire lying on top of Freeman, who had the knife clenched in his hand.

The accused was still angry, yelling that it was Tanya's fault.

"This anger was throughout," she said. "It's not about fear. "

At the hospital, Freeman was still angry and when he was told he was charged with attempted murder, he said "I hope he f...ing dies."

He clearly told police that he wasn't scared of Gregoire, and used expressions such as "kill or be killed," "bring it on," "game on," and "you're going to get the f...ing knife."

Freeman knew what he was doing, how dangerous it was and that Gregoire could or likely would die of his injuries, Peterson said.

On Monday, Superior Court Justice Charles Valin will give his charge to the jurors, after which they will begin their deliberations.