Jury deliberations begin in trial for deadly 2021 Scotch Creek shooting

Photo: Castanet

John Vance was shot and killed at a Scotch Creek car wash with a semi-automatic nine millimetre handgun on June 25, 2021.

Editor's note: Jurors returned with a not guilty verdict on Friday afternoon. Click here for the latest.

Jurors are now deliberating in the case of Paul Binder, who is charged with murder in connection with a 2021 shooting in Scotch Creek that left John Vance dead.

Jurors left the courtroom shortly after 5 p.m. on Thursday following a week and a half of evidence in Paul Binder's second-degree murder trial.

Everyone agrees that Binder was holding the semi-automatic nine millimetre handgun that went off and killed Vance in Scotch Creek on June 25, 2021. The shooting was caught on security cameras.

Crown has said Binder, who operated the car wash, was angry when he went to retrieve his handgun from his nearby home and either intended to kill Vance or was reckless as to whether Vance lived or died.

Binder’s defence lawyers have argued Vance was the aggressor, only mortally injured after grabbing Binder’s handgun, causing it to fire. In the alternative, they want jurors to determine that Binder acted in ”justified self-defence."

Throughout the trial, the jury has heard Vance was known to local police and his relationship with Binder soured in the months leading up to the shooting.