Fate of Sarnia murder accused in jury’s hands

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After spending several hours Thursday giving legal instructions to the jury in a Sarnia murder trial, Superior Court Justice Michael McArthur briefly paused and looked away.

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Then he turned back to them.

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“You can begin your deliberations,” he said at 5:20 pm

With those five words, the fate of Joshua Tomlinson was in their hands.

Tomlinson, 38, and Noah Brown, 31, pleaded not guilty more than a month ago to second-degree murder and breaking and entering into the death of Allen Schairer, 62, a retiree and photographer who lived alone on Devine Street near Tecumseh Park. He was found stabbed to death in his bathtub on Jan. 26, 2021, after police discovered his car abandoned on Sarnia’s outskirts, the trial has heard.

Brown is no longer involved in the trial after entering last-minute guilty pleas to manslaughter and breaking and entering.

But the 12-member jury is still tasked with deciding whether, after hearing from 15 witnesses over the last seven weeks, the Crown has proven charges of second-degree murder and breaking and entering against Tomlinson beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Prosecutor Davis Rows delivered his closing argument earlier Thursday, theorizing that Tomlinson killed Schairer with a kitchen knife after he and Brown broke into his home. Tomlinson cut his own hand during the attack, which is how his DNA ended up on the knife’s handle and on a storage tote in Schairer’s bedroom.

After fencing property stolen from Schairer’s home, Tomlinson discarded his jacket and shoes and bought new boots and clothing before returning home, Rows continued.

Tomlinson previously testified he was never in Schairer’s home and knew nothing of a break-in or murder. That night, he walked from his Kathleen Avenue home to Exmouth Street and back looking for businesses to break into to get drug money. Just before he got home, Brown pulled up in a car, cut his hand with a sharp object and intimidated him into helping him fence stolen property, Tomlinson testified.

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But Rows told the jury they should reject Tomlinson’s testimony. He has an extensive criminal record for crimes of dishonesty – 82 in total, many for breaking and entering, the jury has heard – and lied to his then-girlfriend about where he was that night and how he cut his hand from him, Rows pointed out out. Tomlinson also admitted lying to police about being at home under his court-ordered curfew after his arrest, despite not knowing when the murder took place.

“Let alone who had been murdered,” Rows added.

The jury has heard Tomlinson is facing a second, separate homicide charge linked to the fatal stabbing of another Sarnia senior just days earlier.

On top of the lies, Tomlinson’s testimony doesn’t make sense, Rows argued. He took the long way home after scoping out vulnerable businesses, despite being cold, wet and tired. Also, Brown supposedly presented him with a golden opportunity to fence already stolen goods without the risks of breaking and entering, but he wasn’t initially interested.

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And it’s strange Brown would cut him in a bid to get him to help offload the property despite no previous animosity between the pair.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Rows repeated after making each point.

Rows later shifted to evidence supporting a conviction on both counts, mainly the testimony of Tomlinson’s then-girlfriend, and science.

Responding to a point Tomlinson’s lawyer, Terry Brandon, made Wednesday during his closing argument that his client’s blood wasn’t found on the knife’s blade, just the handle, Rows countered his blood may not have been found if it stabbed Schairer several times after he cut himself.

Rows also theorized a glove Tomlinson was wearing soaked up his own blood and explained why there was no blood trail in Schairer’s home, another issue Brandon had raised.

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Later, Rows asked the jury not to be distracted by lost or untested evidence Brandon brought up the previous day, because it doesn’t change what they do have: a cut on Tomlinson’s hand, blood on the knife handle, his blood on a tote in the bedroom, and Tomlinson coming home after the murder without his coat and new shoes.

He asked them to come back with guilty verdicts.

During his legal instructions, McArthur told the jury they have three options on the homicide charge – guilty of second-degree murder, not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty – but must be unanimous.

Their deliberations continued Thursday.

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@ObserverTerry

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