THUNDER BAY — The question of who fired the bullet that killed Charlie Finlayson will be the focus of a murder trial this week at the Thunder Bay Courthouse.
Justin Coaster, 34, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and criminal negligence causing bodily harm on Monday.
Thunder Bay police reported to a weapons call on July 29, 2022 in the 800 block of McMillan Street where Finlayson, 37, was found deceased.
Coaster was arrested on Aug. 11, 2022 following a six-hour standoff in the 200 block of Blucher Avenue.
The trial is expected to last five days and is in front of a judge-alone. There is no jury.
Crown lawyer, Lillian Taylor, outlined the Crown’s theory that on the morning of July 29, 2022, Finlayson was in the living room of a residence on McMillan Street and that Coaster allegedly entered the room and fired a single shot at Finlayson.
“It passed through his head, killing him instantly,” Taylor said.
The bullet then grazed the top of another individual’s head before ricocheting off the wall and landing on the floor.
David Pierce, also with the Crown’s office, said police found Finlayson dead and laying in a pool of blood and that Finlayson’s cause of death was determined to be a single gunshot wound to his head.
A number of individuals were in the residence at the time of the incident and Pierce said there had been a dispute between Finlayson and a woman a week earlier.
Pierce told Justice Bruce Fitzpatrick that Finlayson showed up at the residence to apologize to the woman and everything appeared to be calm in the wake of the apology.
The firearm used in the incident was also never found, Pierce told the judge.
The Crown called one witness Monday morning, a forensic investigator with the Thunder Bay Police Service, who introduced video and photographic evidence of the scene.
The trial is set to continue Tuesday morning.
None of the allegations against the accused have been proven in court.
