Craig Pope found guilty of murder, leading to chaos in courtroom filled with broken hearts

It was an explosion of emotion in a room divided down the middle relief mixed with grief on one side, anger and desperation on the other.

Craig Pope had just been found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2017 stabbing death ofJonathan Collins in St. John's.

The jury returned with a verdict after deliberating for less than six hours.

The judge allowed both families to let out their emotions, pausing for a full minute before speaking again. In a room usually reserved for quiet voices and contained reactions, there was an emotional free-for-all.

"No, no way," Pope's mother cried out. "He didn't do it."

The victim's family embraced each other. His mother's sobs could be heard in another courtroom across the hall.

Several jurors stared straight ahead, not looking at the family members. One juror wiped away tears as they rolled down her face.

Justice Vikas Khaladkarbroke his silence by repeating the jury's verdict.

"The accused has been found guilty of second-degree murder," he read into the record, before setting a date for a sentencing hearing.

Moments later, a member of Pope's family stood and hurled an allegation.Another man had committed the crime, she said.

"Tell the truth," she yelled at the Crown prosecutors and the Collins family before leaving the room.

Three minutes after giving their verdict, the jury was excused and left the room, single file, past both crying families.

Not a happy day, victim's father says

Collins died after a fight on Alderberry Lane in the west end of St. John's. Several witnesses said Pope was the other man in the fight, but nobody actually saw the moment Collins was stabbed.

The 36-year-old victimleft behind two children. Pope, 33, is also a father of two.

Throughout the verdict, Pope appearedcalm, turning to tell his distraught family, "Two grounds for appeal."

For the Collins family, the verdict is not a victory, but a moment of relief.

"We're not happy. But we are relieved," father DavidCollins told the media."This verdict doesn't change anything. It doesn't bring Jonathan back."

Both men spent the day riding around as passengers in a taxi cab. After about a dozen stops, they parked on Alderberry Lane, where they met with Pope's father, who was driving a Hiscock Rentals cube van with a coworker in the passenger seat.

The coworker, Keith Doran, said Pope's father handed $60 to his son, and a fight erupted between Pope and Collins.

The Crown prosecutors contended Collins was killed over $60.

After Collins fell to the ground, several witnesses saw Pope return to the cab and leave the scene. Cab driver Jeff Cromwell said Pope told him to run Collins over, but he refused and instead drove him to CowperthwaiteCourt in the centre of the city.

Shortly after he was dropped off, police were in the area looking for a stocky male suspected in a stabbing.

Const. Kyle Smith spotted a man matching that description walking away from Cowperthwaite Court towards Paton Street. He watched him walk into a plastic surgery clinic, where the receptionist testified he was sweating and bleeding. Pope asked her to schedule an appointment for him.

As that was happening, another police officer tapped on the window and asked him to step outside. Pope was detained without any struggle.

Verdict a long time coming

Forensics experts testified Pope's blood was found on Collins's clothes, and Pope's palm print was found on the cab.

Defence lawyer Randy Piercey never denied Pope was involved in the altercation, but asked the jury to consider reasonable doubt witnesses saw a fight, not a stabbing, and no murder weapon was ever found.

After the verdict came back, Crown prosecutor Shawn Patten said lacking one piece of damning evidencewas never an issue for them.

"You didn't need that last piece of evidence to get the charge of second-degree murder," he said.

The jury's decision ends a 21-month nightmare for both families.

There were tense and emotional moments for the Collins and Pope families throughout the trial, which culminated in a brief outburst by a member of the Pope family during a day of heated testimony last week. Sheriffs intervened, and staffed the courtroom with extra officers to keep peace.

There were also moments of gratitude like when the victim's father thanked a bystanderfor trying to save his son with CPR.

As for how long Pope will serve behind bars, it will be settled at a sentencing hearing in September.

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