Judge to decide if magic mushrooms bear on sentencing in Sask. manslaughter trial

WATCH: A Saskatoon man accused of killing his roommate took the witness stand, denying he consumed magic mushrooms before the homicide.

Lawyers are deeply divided about what justice should look like for a man who killed his roommate with a hammer in Saskatoon.

Steffen Pohl, 35, was found dead inside his Idylwyld Drive North home on Jan. 30, 2023.

His roommate, Nader Butter, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Butter was impaired by alcohol and magic mushrooms when he killed Pohl, according to an agreed statement of facts.

The Crown is seeking an 11.3-year prison sentence, factoring in credit for time Butter has already spent in custody.

The defence is asking for a drastically lighter sentence: one day in jail, followed by three years of probation.

Defence lawyer Chris Murphy argued the case hinges on Butter’s moral culpability.

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On May 8, Justice Natasha Crooks ruled there was not enough evidence to prove Butter voluntarily consumed magic mushrooms.

“The most advantageous finding of fact of Mr. Butter is that he involuntarily consumed psilocybin,” Murphy argued.

Justice Natasha Crooks questioned Murphy about Butter’s high level of alcohol intoxication

“It’s not just the drugs, so how do I reconcile both?” the judge asked.

Murphy argued that without the magic mushrooms “this would not have happened.”

The comment prompted a reaction from the gallery, filled with Pohl’s friends.

“Listen. I don’t need input from the gallery,” Crooks said.

“If you are going to make comments, I’m going to have you leave. I understand that this is difficult, but I have a handle on this situation ... I’m going to consider that a one-off.”

The Crown pushed back on the defence’s argument, calling it “completely speculative to say, ‘Had the mushrooms not been present, the killing wouldn’t have happened.’”

Victim impact statements painted a picture of Pohl as a kind and reliable friend, nicknamed “German.”

Pohl was from Germany and worked at a local restaurant as a chef.

Coworkers, who quickly became friends with Pohl, said they knew something was wrong when Pohl didn’t show up for his shift.

One friend described the painful task of calling Pohl’s father in Germany to break the news.

“I have lost my son,” Pohl’s father wrote in a statement, read in court.

“An unimaginable hole has formed in my heart.”

Justice Crooks is scheduled to deliver her sentencing decision on July 22.