Gabriel Klein should be found guilty of lesser charge of manslaughter, defence argues

A man who stabbed a 13-year-old girl to death at an Abbotsford high school did not intend to kill her and should instead be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer said on the final day of the trial.

Gabriel Klein, who was 21 at the time of the stabbing, is charged with one count of second-degree murder in Letisha Reimer's death and one count of aggravated assault for stabbing her friend during the Nov. 1, 2016 attack.

He pleaded not guilty.

In his closing arguments on Wednesday, defence lawyer Martin Peters said Klein should be found guilty on the aggravated assault charge.

But he said the man's state of mind at the time casts doubt on his intention to kill Reimer. Therefore, he said Klein should be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. 

"There was a mental disorder and mental stresses, which raised a reasonable doubt as to whether Mr. Klein had the specific intent to kill Letisha Reimer."

The day of the attack, Klein stole rum from a liquor store and a buck knife from a hunting goods store.

Klein stole the knife because he wanted to attack a police officer and commit suicide by cop, Peters said. 

Reimer was stabbed 14 times. The other girl who was also stabbed and seriously injured in the attack required multiple surgeries. Her name is under a publication ban.

His "dysfunctional" behaviour that day and in the days after the attack show he was not a "full-functioning individual" capable of forming the intent to kill Reimer, Peters said. 

B.C. Crown prosecutor Rob Macgowan disagreed.

During his closing arguments on Tuesday, he said Klein was clearly aware of the consequences of his actions and tried to feign the extent of his mental illness in the days after the attack on Letisha Reimer in 2016.

Macgowan said he intended to kill her and should be found guilty of second-degree murder.

Peters said Klein's behaviour around the time of the attack was not of someone planning to go to a high school and kill someone he had never met.

Klein banged his head against the walls of a pre-trial detention centre hard enough to leave blood and defecated in a hospital bed, Peters said. 

He has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffers from auditory hallucinations, paranoid delusions and thought disorder.

"This guy is all over the map," Peters said. "We have odd behaviour, we have dysfunctional behaviour, but in my submission, we do not have evidence ... that Mr. Klein was intentionally faking his sickness."

Klein's fate now rests with a judge.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said she will make her decision in February.