Guilty verdict in Edward Downey double murder trial

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – A jury has found Edward Downey guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of a Calgary woman and her five-year-old daughter.

Downey, 48, had testified that he didn’t kill Sara Baillie and Taliyah Marsman in July 2016.

He said he was in their home the day Baillie’s body was found because he was doing a drug deal with two other men.

The Crown’s theory was that Downey believed Baillie, 34, had influenced her best friend to break up with him and to decline to work as an escort.

The prosecution further argued that Baillie’s daughter was a witness who needed silencing.

Family members clapped as jurors returned with their verdict less than three hours after they began deliberations.

Eleven of 12 jurors recommended Downey serve 50 years before being eligible for parole. The 12th juror made no recommendation.

-with files from Canadian Press

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