Jury declares man not guilty

Members of a Yukon Supreme Court jury have exonerated one of their fellow citizens who had stood accused of breaking into a downtown house and attacking the residents with a knife.

Members of a Yukon Supreme Court jury have exonerated one of their fellow citizens who had stood accused of breaking into a downtown house and attacking the residents with a knife.

The charges against Keith Bunbury, 44, were heavy ones, but after a two-day trial last week, the jury found him not guilty on all three counts on Friday afternoon.

Bunbury did not deny walking into the house at the corner of Third Avenue and Alexander Street and getting into a tussle with one of the people living there. However, he did it as an act of self-defence, he said, because the resident had threatened to shoot him.

On the night of Nov. 28, 2009, Bunbury was walking around town looking for a ride to his mother’s residence, when he banged on the door of 3158 Third Ave.

A friend of his used to live there, he said, but when no one answered, he starting walking toward the nearby Salvation Army.

One of the house’s residents, however, objected to Bunbury banging on the door.

Jeremiah Meneeley said he came outside after hearing the bang and shouted at Bunbury, but denied threatening to shoot him at that point in the altercation, as Bunbury said he did.

Bunbury then followed Meneeley into the house. The two scuffled for a minute before Meneeley said (again by Bunbury’s account, for the first time by Meneeley’s testimony) “Brucie, go get my gun,” to his roommate.

Upon hearing that, Bunbury followed the roommate through the kitchen, picking up a knife as he went.

“Where’s the gun? Aren’t you going to shoot me?” he asked.

“I don’t got no gun,” the roommate replied.

With that, Bunbury left the house.

He never lay a hand on the roommate, the jury heard, although the Crown prosecutor argued that simply by holding the knife and following the man, Bunbury assaulted him.

The jury didn’t buy it. Just before 2 p.m. Friday, only a few hours after being instructed by the judge, they found Bunbury not guilty of assault, assault with a weapon and assault during a break and enter.