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Refusing to look at his grief-stricken family, Shawn Trusty was found guilty of second-degree murder on Friday in the Sept. 13, 2003, killing of his father Clifford.
Holding his head in his hands after being led in by extra sheriffs to Court of Queen’s Bench in hand and leg shackles, Trusty was found guilty of stabbing his father and trying to set the family home ablaze to cover the crime after being released on a weekend pass from a psychiatric hospital.
Justice Suzanne Bensler said there was enough evidence to convict the 25-year-old of the killing because he had an “exclusive opportunity” to commit the crime as the father and son were alone together and there were no signs of forced entry to the house.
“We may never know what happened between father and son that day — what we do know is that he didn’t want to go back to the hospital,” she said.
“Motive is not necessary in this case.”
Trusty was also convicted of mischief for his attempt to start a fire in the Fonda Cl. S.E. home, after a separate charge of arson was downgraded.
As Bensler made her ruling, Trusty’s mother, Joan Trusty, let out a low moan and continued softly weeping with her head in her hands as lawyers set a date for sentencing.
Family declined to speak following the verdict.
Court heard Trusty was released from the hospital but had purchased a plane ticket to Montreal where he planned to get on a bus for New York.
He was staying at his family’s home on a weekend pass and the killing took place after all other family members and an exchange student had left the house, leaving Trusty alone with his 62-year-old father.
The knife, which was used to stab Clifford Trusty in the heart, belonged to the accused and was found by police investigators in his bedroom.
Trusty admitted the crime to undercover cops who posed as members of a criminal organization, telling investigators he, “lost his cool and left the knife in his bedroom,” Bensler said.
Crown prosecutor Lloyd Robertson requested a psychiatric assessment of Trusty before he makes his submissions for sentencing, which he expected to take six weeks.
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for April 11.