Three years after his son's death, the father of Erick Tello Arias held back tears as he reacted to the jury's verdict late Wednesday night. "He killed my son, getting what he got now, it's just unfair."
It took the 12 jury members less than nine hours to come back with the guilty verdict on Wednesday.
Dillon Childs faced a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of Tello Arias, but the jury decided on the lesser manslaughter charge.
"Very disappointed," Childs' defence lawyer, Gregory Leslie said. "It was three-on-one. We didn't expect this. We expected that the jury would find that he was acting in self-defence."
Erick Tello Arias was stabbed to death during the May long weekend in Wasaga Beach, 2016.
Childs has admitted to stabbing the victim, but his defence argued he was scared for his life. "We honestly believed that this was a self-defence case. We were going for the win and expected to win. So we're not happy."
The defence argued Childs saw a friend of Tello Arias that night reach in his waistband for what he thought was a weapon, and he reacted.
The Crown instead presented a case of a drug dealer who knew what he was doing. Childs admitted he sold the victim two Xanax pills and that Tello Arias later robbed him of more. The two men got into a confrontation with the stabbing happening less than an hour later.
The Crown told the jury not to feel sorry for Childs, saying he found himself in a "situation of his own doing."
The jury began deliberations Wednesday afternoon and came back the guilty verdict just before ten that night.
"We will definitely be looking at areas of appeal," said Leslie.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin on July 3rd.
