Sudbury victim was killed because of $750 chain, Crown tells jury

The Crown made its closing arguments Wednesday in the second-degree murder trial of Sudbury man Kyle Smith.

Kyle Smith was fixated on getting a chain back from drug dealer Patrick McGregor, a Sudbury jury was told Wednesday morning.

That’s why Smith stabbed McGregor in the neck and ran him over with McGregor’s own car, assistant Crown attorney Mathieu Ansell said in his closing arguments.

McGregor was killed just after 2:20 a.m. Sept. 7, 2021, outside the Esso gas station at the corner of Lasalle Boulevard and Notre Dame Avenue.

Smith is on trial for second-degree murder and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

While the defence admits he stabbed McGregor, Smith testified it was in self-defence because McGregor tried to stab him first. He said he ran McGregor over accidentally when he was fleeing the scene in panic.

But Ansell said the evidence shows Smith was obsessed with getting his chain back from McGregor. Late on Sept. 6, he had given McGregor the chain -- worth around $750 –in exchange for about two grams of cocaine worth about $200.

The chain had a lot of sentimental value to Smith, and Ansell said he had “immediate buyer’s remorse” and became obsessed with getting it back.

When McGregor came to give Smith the rest of the cocaine he owed him early on Sept. 7, Smith asked him to wait while he went back inside to inject cocaine.

Wanted the chain back

Then he got into McGregor’s red Dodge Magnum and began trying to convince him to give him the chain back in exchange for $200 he had stolen from his grandfather.

Smith went into the convenience store at the Esso station to buy two bottles of Coca-Cola as a peace offering, Ansell said, a last-ditch attempt to convince McGregor to return the chain.

“It meant a great deal to” Smith, he said.

“He was fixated on getting it back.”

But McGregor had no interest in returning it.

“Why would Pat accept $200 when the deal was a $750 chain?” Ansell told jurors.

“Pat had no reason to be angry. He was the one who came out of the deal on top.”

It was Smith who felt ripped off, he said, and when McGregor refused again to return the chain, Smith stabbed him in the neck in a fit of anger.

It wasn’t a planned attack, but he decided at that point to kill McGregor as the only way to get his chain back.

“This was Kyle Smith losing it,” Ansell said.

Makes no sense

The defence’s claim that it was McGregor who tried to stab Smith makes no sense, the Crown said.

He had no reason, Ansell told jurors, to stab Smith, let alone while he was driving a car.

“Why would Pat choose to attack Kyle Smith with a knife while he was driving?” he asked.

If McGregor was getting annoyed with Smith, he could have just left him behind at the gas station or kick him out of the vehicle.

“Kyle Smith was the one who desperately wanted the chain back – Patrick McGregor wasn’t desperate,” Ansell said.

While the defence claims Smith was high on cocaine and was having trouble with his vision, the defence also claims Smith saw McGregor coming at him with a knife out of the corner of his eye and reacted with “ninja-like” reflexes to grab the knife.

Once Smith grabbed the knife, Ansell argued, he had no reason to stab McGregor, who was driving. At that point, McGregor was disarmed and was no longer a threat.

Instead, Smith stabbed McGregor in the jugular vein with a forceful blow – one that doesn’t jibe with the defence claim that he just hit him back with the knife without aiming it anywhere.

“It was deliberate,” Ansell said, and was a fatal blow to his jugular vein.

Stabbed as the car leaves the gas station parking lot, McGregor gets out of the vehicle – with Smith crawling out behind him.

Ansell said that rather than calling for help, Smith searched McGregor, still looking for the chain.

Runs down McGregor

“He’s going through Pat’s pockets looking for that chain. And then he leaves,” he said.

“(Smith) is not thinking about Pat, he’s … thinking about his precious silver chain -- the reason he stabbed Pat that night.”

When he doesn’t find it, he gets in the car and runs down McGregor, who was standing at the time, to ensure that he will die and won’t tell anyone what Smith did.

While the defence claims Smith was having trouble seeing, Ansell said he was able to drive directly toward McGregor on the curb, when several other directions were available if he just wanted to flee.

“Why was Mr. Smith able to see Pat when he was running up to him, but not when he was driving toward him?” Ansell said.

“Mr. Smith did not have vision problems that night.”

After striking McGregor, Smith was able to navigate the turns on Notre Dame and Lasalle and ended up in a nearby parking lot on Kent Court.

“He’s leaving (McGregor) dead or dying from the stab wound he caused,” Ansell said.

Once Smith parked, he searched the vehicle for his chain, checked the flat tire, grabbed the knife, McGregor’s cellphone and the key fob for the vehicle and fled the scene.

He left the knife in a fire pit and threw the phone and key into the bushes, Ansell said.

He argued the only narrative that makes sense is that Smith was “the aggressor throughout the incident.”

Smith even admits that he searched again for the chain after he parked the car – hardly the actions of someone panicking and so high, he can’t see straight.

Not an honest witness

“He was not an honest witness,” Ansell said, adding that Smith has a “criminal record full of crimes of dishonesty and disrespect for the law.”

His actions that night show “complete presence of mind,” not panic, the Crown argued. He even hid and destroyed evidence.

“(His) only concern was destroying evidence, including Pat,” Ansell said.

“Kyle Smith went straight for the jugular, literally.”

He lost his temper because McGregor wouldn’t return the chain that Smith was obsessing over. When his last-ditch effort to convince him -- buying him a pop – failed, Smith decided to kill him and get it back that way.

“Mr. Smith killed Patrick McGregor, not out of self-defence, but out of anger,” Ansell said.

“Kyle Smith killed Patrick McGregor over a chain.”

Superior Court Justice Alexander Kurke then gave the jury his instructions Wednesday afternoon, reminding them that “it’s your duty to consult with one another and come to a verdict according to the law.”