Hugh McIntosh killed one man and tried to kill a woman over a drug debt in Kamloops five years ago.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/RCMP
August 12, 2024 - 4:30 PM
A convicted murderer may have an earlier parole after a successful appeal in BC's highest court.
Hugh Alexander McIntosh killed Jason Glover and shot another person over a drug debt in Kamloops five years ago and was later convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder by a Kamloops jury in 2021.
He went to the BC Court of Appeal, where a panel of judges overturned his first-degree conviction and reduced it to second-degree, meaning his 25-year parole eligibility will likely be reduced.
McIntosh, born in 1968, was sentenced after a 30-day trial for shooting Glover six times over a $12,000 drug debt.
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The money was stolen from Glover's townhouse and his supplier wanted to be reimbursed. When McIntosh and co-accused Gordie Braaten attended the house days later, Glover's roommate wouldn't name the thief, according to the appeal decision.
Glover's roommate refused to give Braaten and McIntosh the name as she "was not sure of the identity," but Braaten suspected Glover was the thief and his roommate was covering for him, according to the decision.
Glover was shot six times, twice in the back of his head. His roommate was also shot multiple times, but she "remarkably" survived, the court decision reads. Her name is now protected under a publication ban over concern for her safety.
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McIntosh's defence included several arguments to have his sentence reduced. Most were rejected, but Justice Gregory Fitch said there simply was not enough evidence to prove there was a deliberate plan to murder Glover. He also said there was no evidence that McIntosh knew Glover to be the thief and, despite coming to Kamloops from the Lower Mainland and joining Braaten, it didn't amount to evidence of a pre-planned murder, according to the decision.
"The appellant’s conviction for first degree murder is unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence. It cannot stand," Fitch said. "In my view, he was properly convicted of second degree murder."
The matter will be returned to BC Supreme Court to reconsider McIntosh's 25-year parole eligibility.
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