Trial begins for man charged in deadly Capitol Hill shooting in Calgary

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The judge-alone trial for one of two men charged with second-degree murder in a fatal shooting in Calgary’s northwest community of Capitol Hill two years ago began Monday morning.

Robert Joseph Matthews, 27, is accused in the death of Jordan Jacques-Vetten, 33, who was found shot in the chest outside a home in the 1700 block of 18 Avenue N.W. on Sept. 9, 2023.

The Crown’s theory is Jacques-Vetten had just finished his shift as a line cook at El Furniture Warehouse around 2:30 a.m. when he was the target of an armed robbery carried out by Matthews and another man.

“By four that same morning, he was laying in a pool of his own blood on a front porch,” said prosecutor Carla MacPhail in her opening statement.

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MacPhail argues Jacques-Vetten was a stranger to the accused and targeted because he wouldn’t easily give up his “colourful” backpack.

The Crown said evidence in trial will show Matthews made plans to rob people with loaded firearms that evening and had discussed shooting people with his co-accused through the third-party app, Telegram.

Prosecutors also plan to present text messages in trial between the pair in the aftermath of the killing revealing efforts to destroy evidence.

The Crown also alleges Matthews confessed to the killing to a female friend.

MacPhail said a search warrant of a property in Chestermere also found papers that she argues was written on by Matthews where he admits he “shot a man in the upper torso because he wouldn’t give up his backpack,” and, “I hope he died because he deserves to for being so naïve (sp)… in the world.

“We don’t need cowards or liberal scum procreating.”

Matthews was arrested on Sept. 11 after a near 30-minute police chase, though it’s unclear if that pursuit was connected to the murder investigation.

An 18-year-old man from Chestermere is facing a separate trial and cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because he was a youth at the time.

Man testifies to finding victim ‘covered in blood’

Paul Beriault, the Crown’s first witness, testified Monday to calling 911 after discovering the injured man on his front porch that morning.

He told the court he was awoken around 3:45 a.m. by a large bang and after checking nobody had broken into his home, Beriault said he turned on the front porch light to see “splatters” of blood on his front glass door.

He said there was a blood trail leading to the steps of his porch and from his kitchen window he saw a body on the porch also “covered in blood.”

A neighbour, Laurie Ann Baptiste, told the court she woke up that morning to the sound of a male voice shouting, followed by a loud bang, which she immediately thought was a gunshot.

She said she and her husband looked out their window that faced the street and saw a red car rushing west down 18 Avenue.

“It was going very fast,” she said.

She said emergency vehicles arrived shortly after.

Matthews, who has short, dirty blond hair and a prominent neck tattoo, sat quietly in the prisoner’s box and listening as the testimony unfolded.

He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.