Kamloops jury to decide fate of Shuswap car wash shooter

A Kamloops jury is behind closed doors to deliberate whether or not to convict a Shuswap man for a fatal shooting in 2021.

Paul Binder, born in 1970, is accused of killing John Vance, 32, at a Scotch Creek car wash. The Crown sought to prove to a jury he should be jailed for second-degree murder during the week-long BC Supreme Court trial.

“You decide the facts of the case, I do not,” Justice Jasmin Ahmad told the jury. “You must make your own independent evaluation of the evidence.”

On May 8, the 12 jurors were sequestered and tasked with considering whether Binder should be convicted for murder or manslaughter. If not, they may find it was self-defence or an accident that the trigger was pulled.

“Mr. Binder may not be convicted on a guess, no matter how shrewd that guess may be,” Ahmad said.

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There was no question of whether Binder held the 9mm handgun or whether the single bullet it fired killed Vance. The entire incident was recorded on the car wash surveillance system and Binder later told police what happened.

Binder didn’t testify nor was there evidence he told police the shooting was in self-defence, but his lawyers told the jury the surveillance video, while difficult to interpret, could be seen as Binder defending himself.

That’s just one way lawyer Jay Michi said the shooting could be seen, but the low quality video could be interpreted another way immediately after. He also suggested another version: while Binder pointed his handgun toward Vance and Vance lunged, he might have pulled it, forcing Binder’s finger against the trigger enough to fire at his chest.

“Upon one viewing you may be convinced Mr. Vance doesn’t get his hand on Mr. Binder’s gun,” Michi said. “On the next viewing, you will not be so sure.”

READ MORE: Murder or self-defence? Jury hears closing arguments in 2021 Shuswap shooting death

Binder wasn’t in any danger before he brought the handgun into early morning confrontation, according to Crown lawyer Laura Drake.

On June 25, 2021, Vance arrived at the Scotch Creek car wash Binder operated and lived next door to. Vance was carrying a sheathed machete on his hip when they initially spoke outside. What they said isn’t known, but witnesses said the pair did “not see eye-to-eye” and had fought in the past.

Binder returned minutes later with a handgun and pointed it at Vance as they closed in on each other. Vance lunged, Binder leapt back and the trigger was pulled. Vance later died on the floor of a car wash bay.

Whether Binder was protecting himself or his property didn’t justify him returning with a handgun, even if it were only with the intent to oust Vance from the car wash, Drake said. She told the jury Binder was on offence, not defence.

“There’s a world of difference between asking someone to leave a business and going inside and getting a loaded gun and pointing it at someone,” she said. “The former might be reasonable, the latter is not.”

Family members of both Binder and Vance were in the courtroom as Ahmad gave her instructions to the jury.

Outside the courtroom Binder’s mother, who didn’t provide her name, said she was hoping for an acquittal “so we can move on.”