Judge acquits teens of attempted murder

Halifax Youth Court Judge Pam Williams found two teenagers not guilty of attempted murder Monday, even though she described the victim who identified them as "an extremely credible" witness.

Williams said she was not convinced that Warren Wesson correctly identified two men who shot him in his Agricola Street apartment last July. Wesson, who suffered wounds to his chest and hand, escaped his attackers by jumping from his second-storey apartment and flagging down a passing motorist.

"Mr. Wesson may well be right, but the benefit of the doubt must go to the accused," the judge said.

Williams also acquitted the teens of aggravated assault and several weapons charges.

At trial, Wesson identified two boys, aged 16 and 17, as his attackers. He picked their photos from a police data base shortly after the attack, and said he knew them only by their street names Soldier and Little Man.

William Dobbin, the only other man in the apartment at the time of the shooting, testified that the pair had nothing to do with the attack.

The judge noted that both Wesson, 40, and Dobbin were high on drugs that night. Wesson had testified he had smoked 10 rocks of crack cocaine.

Wesson testified that he was very familiar with both accused because they had come to his apartment several times looking for marijuana, in the days before the shooting.

But Williams said there was reasonable doubt because Wesson may have identified the boys based on seeing them on those occasions, rather than during the attack.