We won’t know the fate of Inderdeep Singh Gosal for another few months.
Wednesday marked the end of closing submissions after hearing from both the defence and Crown prosecution over two days.
In 2023, the accused, Gosal, allegedly stabbed Paul Schmidt six times in the chest on a Vancouver coffee shop patio in broad daylight.
Gosal pleaded not guilty to second degree murder charges. His defence lawyer, Gloria Ng, argues her client should be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
As part of closing submissions, both sides turned to precedent, reflecting on similar cases that resulted in outcomes that aligned with their positions.
Ng referenced a case in which a B.C. man received a six-and-a-half-year sentence on a manslaughter charge. In that case, Joel Aaron Thomas Anderson was reportedly under the influence of methamphetamine when he set his father’s home on fire and fatally beat a senior.
However, in this present case, Gosal could not confirm whether he had smoked marijuana and it’s not clear how intoxicated he was that day, but he did admit to exaggerating how much he’d had to drink.
Crown prosecutor Daniel Pruim pointed to the case of Brandon Davina, a B.C. man found guilty of second-degree murder for killing Brianna Jankauskas on a first date. Although Davina’s lawyers argued for a manslaughter conviction, claiming he was too intoxicated and had been provoked, the judge found he had intent to kill, citing the calculated nature of the attack.
Protectors also questioned Gosal’s reliability and credibility.
While Gosal claimed he had not been properly medicating in the months leading up to the stabbing, he previously told the court he was being truthful when he told his sister he had only missed a few doses.
The Crown says pharmacy records show he was filling his prescriptions according to schedule. Pruim argued that Gosal repeatedly demonstrated that he is prepared to lie when he perceives a benefit to himself. Ng argues Gosal did not have the mental capacity to understand his actions would cause death.