Iqaluit man not guilty of attempted murder in snowmobile attack, judge rules
Jordan Kovic sentenced to probation on 3 other charges related to incident
Jordan Kovic has been found not guilty of attempted murder for an attack he undertook using a snowmobile in 2019. (File photo)
An Iqaluit man who repeatedly ran over another man before kicking him in the head in 2019 has been found not guilty of attempted murder.
Justice Susan Charlesworth handed down her verdict in the trial of Jordan Kovic in an Iqaluit courtroom Friday.
Kovic was 19 years old when he was charged with attempted murder in 2019 after running over a 28-year-old man with a snowmobile and kicking him in the head. Kovic also assaulted another man during the night, court heard.
The incident, which occurred the night of Dec. 27, 2019, was caught on a security camera.
Kovic had already pleaded guilty to three other charges stemming from the incident: assault with a weapon, failure to comply with a court appearance notice of summons, and one count of aggravated assault.
However, he denied having an intent to kill and pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge.
In releasing her verdict, Charlesworth said she was satisfied that Kovic’s ingestion of marijuana and cocaine and consumption of alcohol that day, coupled with the effects of his fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, resulted in “several terrible choices being made by Mr. Kovic.”
Those choices must result in punishment, she added.
“I’m not satisfied, however, that Mr. Kovic intended to kill” the other man, Charlesworth said.
With Kovic having already served the equivalent of nearly five and a half years in jail, Charlesworth sentenced Kovic to three years’ probation for the three charges to which he pleaded guilty.
Technically, Kovic was sentenced to 1,977 days for the aggravated assault, 90 days for assault with a weapon and one day for the failure to comply with a court appearance. But those sentences would have been served concurrently, or at the same time.
For the probation, Charlesworth agreed with the Crown’s submission that Kovic will be allowed no alcohol during the first year of his probation.
“I think it’s really important for you that you not get back into the habit of drinking and taking drugs,” Charlesworth told Kovic.
Also, Kovic is to not have any contact with the victim or the other man he assaulted.
After Charlesworth’s decision and before she sentenced Kovic, the victim, who is now 32, testified through video.
He spoke about his ongoing physical and mental problems following the assault. The man said he does not have the strength he once did, and that something is wrong with his brain.
While he does not have the job he once did, he has still been able to find employment.
At the end of the trial, Kovic stood up to read a letter.
“There are no words that can properly express my remorse and feelings of guilt to [the victims],” Kovic said.
“I do not expect it, but I will long for their forgiveness until the day I die.”
While slightly trembling with emotion at times, Kovic spoke crisply and clearly throughout most of his speech.
He said he plans to learn a trade, help his community, correct his actions and try to help others who are going down a dark path.
“I must state with all my heart and soul that whatever I can do for those I have harmed and the community they live within, I will do,” Kovic said.
So you can basically commit murder and as long as you’re drunk or high , you’re innocent. Noted.
No, you’re not innocent, you just might be guilty of something else. The story mentions that Kovic was guilty and sentenced for aggravated assault. The thing about being drunk or high is that for some crimes you have to prove a specific intention to do something. For example, for murder and attempted murder you have to prove that the offender intended to specifically kill, not just do injury. However, for other crimes, like manslaughter and assault, you only have to prove a more generalized intention. When someone is drunk or high, they may intend to do harm but their judgment is clouded by their inebriation. In that case, they may not be guilty of a crime requiring a specific intent but guilty of a crime with a lesser, more generalized, intent. They’re still guilty, just of a different crime. It’s why sometimes a person killing another when they’re drunk/high is not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
So basically you can make an idiotic comment that does not reflect the context of the situation at all, while pretending it does and then like it enough times to create the illusion that there you said something meaningful.
disgraceful
He needs to abstain from alcohol for one of his 3 years of probation? Why not all of the three years? And how, exactly, does that get monitored? Who do you report it to when someone breaks those conditions?
The RCMP of course
Like any other law breaking