An Edmonton man has been found guilty of manslaughter in the 2017 death of his six-month-old son.
Christopher Lamarche, 27, was found guilty on Tuesday following a judge-alone trial in Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton.
He was initially charged with second-degree murder in July of 2019 in the death of Jarock Humeniuk on May 28, 2017.
Court heard Humeniuk was found in Lamarche’s room with fatal injuries to his head, back and ribs the morning after a house party.
While Justice Sterling Sanderman agreed that Lamarche was responsible for Humeniuk’s death, he also ruled that prosecutors didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lamarche intended to kill the infant.
“The injuries suffered by Jarock could have been inflicted quickly. This was not necessarily a protracted assault,” he said. “Because of the extremely sympathetic victim, it’s human nature to want to hold whoever committed the offence to the highest degree of responsibility possible. The law does not operate on human nature and emotion.”
“I have a reasonable doubt that Mr. Lamarche had [the intent]… when he took his son’s life.”
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20.
The verdict had been delayed since mid-December after Lamarche was forced to quarantine following being transferred to the Edmonton Remand Centre.
The infant’s body was found at a home on 142 Avenue and 77 Street by emergency workers. An investigation determined he had suffered blunt force trauma.
The baby’s grandmother told CTV News that Lamarche is Humeniuk’s father.
Court documents show Lamarche was charged with causing a child to be in need of intervention on May 7, 2017, three weeks before the baby’s death. The charge was withdrawn on July 5, 2017, in Edmonton Provincial Court.
It’s not clear if Humeniuk was the child involved in the child endangerment charge.
