Judge tells jury it must decide if Alberta man meant to kill girlfriend’s family

CALGARY — A jury will resume deliberations Friday morning to decide whether Jeremy Steinke was acting deliberately when he stabbed members of an Alberta family to death more than two years ago.

Steinke is charged with first-degree murder in the bloody deaths of his 12-year-old girlfriend’s parents and her eight-year-old brother in their Medicine Hat home. He admitted during his trial that he killed the parents, but said his girlfriend was the one who slew the boy.

The jury of six men and six women deliberated for nine hours before retiring for the night.

Justice Adele Kent told jurors Thursday it was up to them as “judges of fact” to make a fair decision on Steinke’s guilt or innocence, regardless of public opinion, sympathy, prejudice or fear.

“We ask for nothing more,” she said. “We are entitled to nothing else.”

Crown lawyer Ramona Robins and defence lawyer Alain Hepner asked the jury to believe very different versions of events on the night the three were killed.

Robins said Steinke was willing to do anything for the love of a pre-teen girl 11 years his junior, including helping her get rid of any obstacle that stood in their way.

She said Steinke snuck into the basement of the family’s home through a window late at night. He first stabbed the girl’s mother after she came down the stairs and flicked on a light. The father was knifed next when he came barrelling down the stairs in a vain attempt to protect his family.

A combined 36 stab wounds led to their deaths. Robins said the girl and Steinke had decided the boy had to die so he would not be able to identify them as the murderers.

Hepner argued that his client was heavily intoxicated at the time and had gone to visit the love of his life and help her sneak out to join him. He said the jumpy man, the product of a violent and abusive childhood, impulsively pulled out a knife when he was surprised in the basement, and stabbed the girl’s mother. He killed the girl’s father when, alerted by his wife’s scream, he came rushing down the stairs.

There was no evidence to tie Steinke to the boy’s death, Hepner said, and his client should be found innocent of that crime.

The defence lawyer said outside court that it was important to have Steinke take the stand. “I think he had a story to tell. I think it’s important in a case like this. It’s a horrific case, a triple homicide.”

But Robins said Steinke’s testimony didn’t ring true.

“He was very inconsistent in his answers. And then the things he did testify didn’t make any sense — or at least didn’t make any sense to me,” she said. “That’s not as a lawyer, that’s as a human being, so I thought the jury might feel the same way.”

Robins also discussed the fact that Steinke’s mother, Jacqueline May, approached a juror early during the trial to say she was sorry the woman had to view graphic pictures. The actions didn’t affect the trial in the Crown’s opinion, she said. “I don’t think it was an effort at manipulation. I think it was a human reaction.”

Steinke’s former girlfriend, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was convicted of first-degree murder at a separate trial and is now serving a youth sentence.

Prosecutors didn’t call her to testify because, they argued, she wasn’t credible at her own trial and they didn’t think she would be credible at her former boyfriend’s trial.Hepner conceded there’s no question that Steinke had a hand in the terrifying violence that engulfed the family home that night. “What happened in that house was just a horrific explosion on, certainly, Jeremy’s part, and then it just evolved.”

But he added the jury will have to decide how much responsibility his client should shoulder.

“Jeremy’s not going to get away with anything. He’s not walking out of this courtroom. There’s no question about that.

“It’s just what the proper verdict should be.”