NADIA GEHL MURDER

This is where our judicial system generally shines. A young , local, honest woman is shot dead in broad daylight. The only thing she might be guilty of is bad judgement in her choice of men. Even that is a stretch because her husband was well liked and respected. The Crown and Police had a difficult investigation as far as evidence went because the husband also had a rock solid alibi. Clearly he was not the shooter. Ron Cyr has been convicted of first degree murder as has his two former friends namely Zvolensky and Qahwash. The convictions of all three was not unexpected. The gun was found and the two friends of Ron Cyr had ties to it. Each defendant testified against the other two while claiming themselves innocent.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here. While following the trial reports in the Waterloo Region Record I noticed that Qahwash was often outside the loop with Zvolensky and Cyr. I wondered if he was basically the patsy in the whole thing. If he was and I say IF then the lesson here is to choose your friends carefully. Everybody turned on everybody. If Qahwash wasn't part of the conspiracy and thus had no prior knowledge then why the hell did he not walk but run to the nearest exit after he found out? O.K. if you aren't comfortable being a rat especially in regards to your best friend you still need to get and stay the hell clear of him. If as Qahwash testifed his friend Zvolensky confessed to shooting Nadia Gehl, then if you aren't going to turn him in, then get the hell out of town, Jack. Staying with him and Ron Cyr after you found out about the murder has basically guaranteed your conviction. In a perfect world it shouldn't but our judicial system is a long, long ways from perfect.

I believe the single trial for all three defendants was not helpful to them. I'm really not sure if separate trials would have been practical or manageable or even more just although I suspect it would have been harder to convict Qahwash. Interestingly it was Qahwash who spoke when given the chance after the verdicts were read. He stated that he had told the truth and the system let him down. Also interestingly it is my understanding that he was the one of the three who said the least incriminating things about himself while being recorded by the undercover police officer. All very interesting.