Two men were using all kinds of drugs. They were really confused, they were doing some pretty wild things,” jurors heard in closing arguments
There is no doubt that Brad Southwind and Joseph Topping had a close friendship which was tragically rooted in substance abuse and mental health problems, jurors heard on Thursday.
The consequences were tragic, predictable and preventable, the Crown said, outlining why Southwind should be found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2018 death of his best friend.
What began as a dysfunctional friendship led to a plan to kill Topping, 31, because of Southwind’s conviction from their conversations that he wanted to die, prosecutor David Didiodato said.
“He carefully considered his role as a friend and the best way to help.”
Southwind believed he was a healer who helped and healed and came up with a plan to kill his friend, the assistant Crown attorney said in his 50-minute closing argument.
The men were at the Southwind apartment, said their goodbyes, then went on a 300-meter walk along a path behind the building to the scene of the murder.
Southwind had a sharp knife with a black handle that he had taken from his kitchen, he took it out of his pocket and stabbed Topping.
“It cannot be considered spontaneous,” Didiodato said. “The reason I stabbed Mr. Topping was to kill him.”
He knew his friend was in pain and “stabbed him over and over and over, 17 times.”
While Southwind initially denied involvement, he eventually admitted to stabbing Topping and continued to do so until the man died.
The accused “knew he was dead because his eyes were open and he wasn’t breathing”, the Crown told jurors.
The more times you stab someone with a great weapon, such as a knife, the intent is to cause death, Didiodato said.
The accused stabbed Topping in the neck, chest, face, head and back – the most vulnerable parts of his body.
“He stabbed to kill.”
The killing was planned and deliberate, and Southwind’s remorse led him to confess to police, Didiodato said.
Both Southwind and Topping were schizophrenic.
The defendant chose to stop taking his medication and turned to street drugs, but there was extremely limited information about his illness at the time of the murder, he said.
Defense attorney Don Oracietti, pointing to Southwind in the jail box, told jurors that “my client is sitting in a fishbowl with a blank stare and he’s carrying medication with him.”
He admitted to killing Topping and pleaded guilty to manslaughter when he was arraigned on the murder charge, Oracietti said.
The Crown rejected that plea and “we have a charge of planning and premeditated murder,” he said during his 40-minute closing argument.
Oracietti asked how what happened was planned and premeditated.
Southwind has schizophrenia, a severe mental illness, is paranoid, off meds and does drugs on the street.
His client indicated the two men were “dealing with all kinds of drugs. They were really messed up, doing some pretty wild things,” the defense said.
“He doesn’t have the ability to plan. He can’t plan his way out of a paper bag,” Oracietti told the jury. “It’s a break with reality.
There is no motive, Topping was his best friend and he has a huge amount of remorse.
This killing is a horrific act, but 17 stab wounds is madness, a man out of control and fits perfectly with a detached state, Oracietti said.
“A conviction for first degree murder is nothing short of hanging.”
To say it was a planned, premeditated killing is to “turn our backs on the problem (of mental illness),” he suggested.
Southwind is a young local man who grew up in a volatile situation with a lot of alcohol and drug use, Orazietti said.
“He’s not here with some fancy lawyers from Toronto … we have this picture. You have to draw conclusions.”
Oracietti attacked the way the prosecution presented its case, suggesting to jurors that it was choreographed to “destroy what was left” of his client and impress them.
“They’re putting on a show to get out of the substance (of the case).”
That’s what the Crown did here, “out of revenge,” he said.
Prosecutors tried to prove that Southwind was responsible for first-degree murder.
“He pleaded to manslaughter, which was not accepted,” he said, calling it a “reckless prosecution” with all the “resources the Crown was able to mobilize.”
Oracietti said the defendant was “the closest thing to a psychiatric report” because jurors could see the state he was in.
“This case is about how we as a society deal with people who are mentally ill,” he said.
It’s not first-degree murder, but “the final decision is yours,” the veteran attorney told jurors.
“Do what your conscience tells you,” he said, urging them to find his client guilty of manslaughter.
Didiodato countered that there is no doubt that substance abuse and mental illness were involved in what happened.
But Southwind chose to stop taking his medication, decided to self-medicate with crystal meth, and decided to kill Topping.
“He is responsible and guilty of first degree murder,” the Crown said.
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