VANCOUVER-A Squamish man is in custody awaiting sentencing after being convicted of manslaughter.
Jesse Andy, aged 32, was tried at Vancouver Supreme Court for the Sept. 8, 2003, killing of Gary Wray in Squamish. Police found 44-year-old Wray brutally beaten and lying in a pool of blood at an apartment building entrance behind the Mini Flea Market on Second Avenue.
Officers arriving on the scene around 10 p.m. found Wray initially conscious, he died of injuries around an hour later. Andy, arrested at the scene, was subsequently charged with manslaughter.
His jury trial got under way at Vancouver Supreme Court last month. The prosecution case was that Andy savagely beat Wray, leaving blood smeared in the hallway. Wray's injuries suggested he had been kicked six times in the stomach.
Andy's defence was that Wray likely suffered the fatal injuries falling down the apartment stairs and that Wray then attacked Andy, who acted in self-defence.
The jury returned with a guilty verdict at 12:30 p.m. on Friday (Oct. 8). A pre-sentence report was subsequently ordered, with sentencing set for 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 12.
