A jury has found a Toronto-area man guilty of six weapon offences stemming from an altercation outside a bar in Sault Ste. Marie's east-end five years ago.
Tremaine Clarke, 32, faced seven criminal charges – six firearm-related offences, involving a handgun, and a single count of threatening.
The jury, which decided he wasn't guilty of the threatening charge, delivered their verdict Wednesday night following three-and-a-half hours of deliberations.
During the five-day trial, jurors heard Clarke and an associate were at the Road House Bar and Grill on Trunk Road on Feb. 26, 2020.
Shortly before 1 a.m., they became embroiled in an argument with another patron in the bar parking lot.
Attempts to diffuse the situation resulted in a physical altercation between the pair and two bouncers.
Clarke put his hand in a black satchel, which contained a loaded 9 mm handgun.
He made a gun gesture with his other hand and threatened one of the bouncers.
"We are going to find you" and "We will get you," Clarke told the man.
The accused fled the scene, but was arrested not far from the bar, and still had the black satchel with him.
City police Sgt. Richard Crema found the handgun when he searched the satchel.
It was loaded, had a live bullet in the chamber, and a magazine with 11 bullets.
Another magazine with 11 more bullets also was located in the bag.
Crema was one of four officers who testified at the trial.
During his closing submission Tuesday, prosecutor David Didiodato argued that the accused should be convicted of the six firearm offences, involving the handgun, as well as the threatening charge.
Clarke was "walking around near a bar in Sault Ste. Marie around 1 a.m., getting into fights and threatening people with a handgun," the assistant Crown attorney said.
"The evidence shows he's guilty of all of these offences, beyond a reasonable doubt," he told jurors.
The weapons offences included counts of possession of an unlicensed firearm, possession of a restricted weapon, carrying a firearm in an unsafe manner, carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Defence lawyer Pierre Bonsu described his client as a black man from Toronto facing very serious offences.
Clarke and another black man were involved in a fight at the bar, and the police were called, he said
Nobody at the Road House saw a weapon, and staff told the cops Clarke was running away and at some point was taken to hospital, Bonsu said.
The complainant "showed in a dramatic fashion" how his client made gestures, then "back tracked" when asked about which hand he used to make the gesture.
Bonsu noted it's been five years since this happened.
There were three witnesses that night, but two of them, including the person the complainant was working with, didn't testify, the defence said.
There were two black guys, but when asked about the accused's hairstyle, the complainant indicated "he couldn't say if the person had dreadlocks or not."
The canine unit didn't find anything belonging to Clarke, and the Crown wants you to believe that he had the handgun, Bonsu told the jurors.
There were no fingerprints, no DNA taken, no body camera or other video, and no cell phone was located, he said.
"If you have any doubts about the Crown's version you have to acquit."
Superior Court Justice Annalisa Rasaiah, who presided at the trial, and the lawyers will set a date on May 14 for sentencing.