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The trial of three men accused of carrying out a drive-by shooting in the Rivière-des-Prairies—Pointe-aux-Trembles borough that killed three men and left another two wounded three years ago began Wednesday morning at the Montreal courthouse.
The jury trial began with all three of the accused — Jonas Castor, Stevenson Choute, 23, and Clifford Domercant-Barosy, 29 — entering not guilty pleas to the six charges they each face. They are charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of discharging a firearm.
Defence lawyer Patrick Davis, who is representing Castor, slipped up and said “guilty” when a clerk asked him how his client would plead to all six of the charges. Davis caught himself quickly and said his client was in fact pleading “not guilty.”
The drive-by shooting took place on Aug. 2, 2021. The victims were all standing near a building on Perras Blvd., near 53rd Ave.
The men killed in the shooting were Jerry Willer Jean-Baptiste, 29, Jafferson Syla, 29, and Molière Dantes, 63.
After welcoming the jury, Superior Court Justice Alexandre Boucher proceeded to deliver a standard set of instructions to them.
“The accused are on trial together, but you must judge them individually,” the judge said.
This report will be updated.
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