By paNOW

Jury finds man guilty of murder in death of best friend

Oct 29, 2018 | 2:32 PM

Questions over a child’s paternity and a physical altercation between two best friends led to the death of one man in 2016 and now, a jail sentence for the other.

Ryan Clark, 30, was sentenced to life in prison last week with no chance of parole for 10 years following a trial at Prince Albert Court of Queen’s Bench. Clark, of Paddockwood, was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder in relation to the death of Christopher Lee Durocher.

Durocher, 37, was found dead inside a camper trailer a few kilometres west of Christopher Lake in the early morning hours of Oct. 2, 2016. RCMP said at the time that there were signs of a fight and charged Clark after a five-month long investigation.

The Crown prosecutor in the case said evidence presented during trial showed Durocher died of blunt force trauma to the head. Catherine Gagnon said court heard the two men had been best friends but the relationship deteriorated after Clark became suspicious that Durocher had an affair with his girlfriend and was the father of her child.

Gagnon said Durocher denied Clark’s claims.

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Medical evidence presented during the trial showed Durocher suffered three to five impacts to the head during the incident, Gagnon said. She said one witness testified to seeing some of the argument, and Durocher get hit in the head once.

“There was no weapon that was found and in the autopsy report, the doctor was not able to say that any weapon had been used,” Gagnon told paNOW. “The Crown had to ask the jury to be convinced that after the departure of the witness that the accused had continued hitting the victim … there was a fracture to the skull.”

Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no parole for 10 to 25 years. Gagnon said the Crown asked for the minimum of 10 years because Clark had no prior criminal record before Durocher’s murder.

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt