Raleigh Stubbs guilty of second degree murder

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(Updated) It took 8 hours for the jury to reach a decision: Raleigh Stubbs, 51, guilty of second degree murder in the death of Hamilton teenager David Pereira.

Hamilton Police Staff Sergeant Paul Hamilton told CHCH News, “we’re satisfied with the outcome. I mean, we did charge him with first degree murder but we are satisfied with the verdict of second degree murder.”

Evidence presented throughout the trial pointed to an angry man out to seek revenge. On the night of the murder, Stubbs was angry that he had been twice denied entry into a Hess Village bar, and angry with a mentally challenged woman who pestered him; a woman he later admitted to kicking in the head. And he was angry with David Pereira.

Hours before he was fatally stabbed, Pereira and a group of friends had been involved in an confrontation with Stubbs. The Crown believes it was that fight that caused Stubbs to seek out the teen and stab him.

“He was angry from the earlier confrontation with the group. I think he was definitely agitated and was looking for trouble. We obviously charged him with first degree, we definitely thought he was looking for Mr Pereira, but there’s always two ways to look at everything and the jury saw it differently.”

A second degree murder conviction carries with it an automatic sentence of life in prison, but the judge will determine when Stubbs will be eligible for parole.