Crown closes its murder case against Devin Morningstar

The Crown closed its case in the first-degree murder trial againstDevin Morningstar onWednesday morning, after calling its final two witnesses.

Morningstar, 19, is accused of killing 18-year-old Baylee Wyliein Moncton in the early morning hours of Dec. 17, 2015, then setting fire to the tri-plex where the murder happened.

The first witness called on Wednesday was Claude Leblanc. He saidhe's a friend of Morningstar's;that they are "closer than brothers."

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During a sworn recordedstatementgiven byMorningstardays after his arrest last December,Morningstarsaid he calledLeblanc around 4 a.m.to pick him up from thetri-plexwhere the murder happened, and drive him home.

In court on Wednesday,LeblanccorroboratedMorningstar'sstatement, testifyinghe left his homein his Hyundai Elantraalone after receivingthe earlymorning phone call.

LeblancsaidMorningstardidn't give him aunit number, telling him only to pick him up at Sumac Street.Leblancsaid he waited at the meeting point for about 10 minutes beforetextingMorningstarto say that if the ride wasn't needed, he would behappy to go back home to bed.

He said Morningstar texted back asking Leblanc to drive down the street to pick him up.

Leblancsaid that's when he saw Morningstar with "a guy and a girl," later identified as Morningstar's co-accused, Tyler Noel and Marissa Shephard.

Noel, 19, and Shephard, 20, are both also charged with first-degree murder and arson.

Leblancsaid he wasn't sure whichunitthey had come from, but they had boxes and bags with them.

He said the man, Noel, smelled strongly of Axe body spray, "like he was wearing the whole bottle."Leblancsaid he commented, "Did you put enough on?"

'He's a good guy'

Leblancnoted thatMorningstarseemed upset but wouldn't talk about what was bothering him.Leblancsaid he chalked it up to Morningstar being sad about breaking up with his on again, off again girlfriend.

AfterLeblancdroppedthe group off at Morningstar's apartment, he said he went home to get some sleep before starting his shift at TimHortons.

During the police investigation intoWylie'smurder,Leblanc'scar was seized. The Crown said a can of Axe body spray wasfound in the car.Leblanctestifiedit was left behind afterMorningstar, Noel and Shephard got out of the car.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard Morningstar tell police in his videotaped statement that Axe body spray may have been used as a fire accelerant.

"He's a good guy," saidLeblancof accused murdererMorningstar. Defence lawyerRobertRideoutasked if Morningstar is known to be violent, to whichLeblancreplied, "No, he was the quiet kid down the street."

Noel returned gun, witness says

Damien Pelletier, the final witness in the Crown's case testified that he had sold a gun to Tyler Noel for cash and cocaine, but that Noel hadn't fully paid for the weapon yet.

Pelletiersaid Noel texted him on the Dec. 17, 2015, saying he was in trouble, and wanted to bring the gun back. He said he told Noel come to his house alone.

They were in trouble, but I didn't ask questions. I didn't want to know.- Damien Pelletier, Crown witness

Instead, Pelletier said Noel"showed up with sketchy looking people." He testified that the three people now accused of murder and arson looked like they had been"up for a month."

He said Morningstarseemed terrified and "looked like he was on drugs, clearly." Hedescribed Noel and Shephard as "antsy."

Pelletiertook the gun, which he said was a Winchester 30-30, and tried to get the group out of his apartment as soon as possible.

"They were in trouble, but I didn't ask questions. I didn't want to know."

Baylee Wyliewas was found dead in aburned-out unit of a triplex on Sumac Street. Police said he was stabbed more than 200 times.

Noel's trialbegins in October 2017 while Shephardwill be in court in May for a preliminary hearing.

The Morningstar trial is expected to last five weeks.

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