Achi news desk-
The Alberta Court of Appeal has denied an Airdrie man’s request to set aside his murder conviction in the fatal shooting of his neighbor in 2019.
Michael Antony Roebuck was found guilty of first degree murder in 2022 and sentenced to life in prison for brutally killing Daniel MacDonald, his former friend, on September 7, 2019.
According to evidence heard at the trial, the pair of men had known each other for about five years, but “their relationship changed” when they decided to start a cannabis operation together.
A conflict broke out over the harvesting of the marijuana, leading to accusations from Roebuck that MacDonald was stealing supplies of the drug from him.
“Mr. Roebuck became increasingly hostile and aggressive,” court documents said, attributing part of his behavior to a drug addiction that began after he was injured in a workplace accident.
“A neighbor said that Mr. Roebuck had told her that he had found someone ‘to look after Dan,’ and on another occasion that ‘something bad was going to happen to Dan.'”
At 4:45 pm on 7 September 2019, the two men met each other at a gas station near their home.
The court heard that they got into a verbal argument, which led to a physical fight where MacDonald knocked Roebuck to the ground.
Roebuck left the gas station and arrived back at his home at 4:55 pm, then went down to his basement to retrieve a “tactical” shotgun.
“He loaded the shotgun with five shells and walked back upstairs, shotgun in hand,” the court document said. “Video footage shows him going back into his garage, leaning against his car while holding the gun, and looking outside the open garage door towards Mr. MacDonald’s house.”
When MacDonald returned a few minutes later, Roebuck left his garage and hid behind the Jeep in which his victim was sitting.
“When Mr. MacDonald got out of his truck, Mr. Roebuck stepped around the Jeep and confronted him, shoving the muzzle of his gun into Mr. MacDonald’s face,” officers said.
“He said that Mr. MacDonald’s attitude changed ‘very quickly’ and he lowered the shotgun to point at Mr. MacDonald’s abdomen.”
During the trial, Roebuck testified that MacDonald grabbed the shotgun and pulled it towards himself, but the judge did not believe that happened.
“The forensic pathology evidence was that the gun was fired from about three to four feet away from Mr. MacDonald,” the court said.
“Within two to five seconds,” Roebuck shot the victim a second time as he lay face down on the ground from about two to three feet away.
The trial judge found that Roebuck fired two shots to ensure MacDonald was dead.
The court heard that Roebuck went back to his home and hid in some bushes in his backyard.
When RCMP later arrived, he eventually surrendered, telling them the killing would not have happened if MacDonald had not punched him at the gas station.
‘No reviewable error’
At his appeal hearing on April 11, Roebuck claimed the conviction was unreasonable because the Crown did not prove he intended to kill MacDonald.
During the appeal hearing, Roebuck said that “a carefully thought out plan must have been considered and weighed before it was implemented and he took time to consider the pros and cons of that plan before acting on it.”
The appeals court disagreed, saying the trial judge made “no reviewable error.”
“He calculated a plan or design that he had in mind while driving home, going to the basement, retrieving the shotgun, suppressor or silencer, and bullets, and sitting in his garage waiting for Mr. MacDonald to arrive.
“It was a simple and direct plan to kill Mr. MacDonald. It was not impulsive.
“Mr. Roebuck was given 11 minutes to weigh the pros and cons of his intended action and he did not deviate from it.”
