EDMONTON -- Joey Crier has been found guilty of manslaughter, not second-degree murder, in the death of his 19-month-old son Anthony Joseph Raine.
The 19-month-old's lifeless body was found outside the Good Shepherd Anglican Church in April 2017. Investigators determined he died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Crier pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder and closing arguments were delivered in December.
But on Friday, Justice David Labrenz found that Crown lawyers were unable to prove who ultimately committed the fatal assault and ruled that Crier was guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Crier's then-girlfriend Tasha-Lee Doreen Mack was also charged in the child's death. Mack was convicted of manslaughter on Nov. 29, 2019. The Crown is appealing that verdict.
A photo of Anthony Joseph Raine (Gofundme/ Brandi Raine)
SIGNS OF TROUBLE
In the judge's decision, he noted that prior to Anthony's death, Crier and Mack were living with him in a northwest Edmonton home with two other people.
After several weeks, a woman living with them expressed concerns that the once-chubby baby had become visibly skinnier and appeared malnourished. She also reported often hearing loud "smacking" sounds followed by high-pitch crying from Crier, Mack and Anthony's room.
"There were bruises on Anthony's body within a week of the move," Labrenz wrote in his ruling, adding that Anthony also suffered several bloody noses and "three or four" black eyes during his time at the home.
Crier defended one of Anthony's more visible bruises by saying his young son had dropped a toy on his face.
Eventually Mack and Crier left the home during Easter weekend 2017 over an argument about money for drugs.
Among other items, they took with them the white polar bear blanket Anthony's body was found wrapped in outside of the church on April 21, 2017.
ABANDONMENT
On April 17, the night before Anthony's body was abandoned, he, Crier and Mack were staying in a duplex with Mack's mother, her partner and two others.
One of the people living there reported hearing Anthony call for his father or Mack in the night, then a sound in response to the cries.
The resident said he "did not hear prolonged crying" and was able to get to sleep.
The next morning, Mack and Crier ate breakfast and had coffee, then told Mack's mother they were taking Anthony to stay with his sister for a few days.
Anthony was already bundled up in a snowsuit, runners and blue blanket with only his closed eyes visible. At that time, the toddler was already "dead or dying," the judge wrote in his ruling.
The pair then took Anthony on an ETS bus to the Castle Downs Transit Centre. They were seen on surveillance video pushing Anthony's stroller toward the church, then to the parking lot of a nearby Sobeys, then back through the transit centre and finally back to the southeast corner of the Good Sheppard Church.
"It was during one of these two trips behind the church that the accused and Ms. Mack placed Anthony beside the wooden sandbox where he would later be found on April 21, 2017."
The judge found Crier to be unreliable in a more-than-five-hour videotaped statement following his arrest.
He denied harming his son at any point and tried to say that he had transferred Anthony to the care of a relative at the bus station his body was found near.
He also minimized his responsibility for the youngster, saying he "barely knew him."
Eventually, Crier's story shifted under questioning, saying he left Anthony at the church – but claiming he was still alive, according to the ruling.
"A healthy, ambulatory toddler would simply not stay in place," wrote the judge. "Instead, Anthony was dead or dying when the accused placed him on the north side of the Good Sheppard Church."
MANSLAUGHTER VS. SECOND-DEGREE MURDER
During the trial, Crier's lawyers argued that the Crown failed to prove his intent to murder his son.
They conceded that if Crier was found guilty of abandoning Anthony to die behind the church, he should be guilty of manslaughter instead of second-degree murder.
Crown lawyers argued that Crier escalated his abuse in the weeks leading to Anthony's death, showing his "clear animus" toward his son, and that Crier would have known that the assaults "were likely to cause Anthony death."
They also said Crier's failure to find medical assistance for his ailing son in the hours before he died was enough for a second-degree murder conviction.
While Justice Labrenz found beyond a reasonable doubt that Crier and Mack violently and fatally assaulted Anthony, he was not convinced that Crown proved Crier intended to murder him.
"I am not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of murder on the basis that he abandoned Anthony at the Good Sheppard Church, alive, and in need of medical attention," he wrote. "I have a doubt as to whether Anthony was already dead when he was abandoned, and I am not convinced that timely medical attention would have saved Anthony's life in any event."
He said he also couldn't prove who, Crier or Mack, ultimately committed the fatal assault.
A sentencing hearing for Crier is expected to begin the week of Feb. 10.
