The wife of an Alberta man shot dead in a roadside shooting east of Calgary shared an emotional hug with prosecutors after a jury found the two men guilty of second-degree murder on Saturday.
Jurors deliberated for 14 hours before concluding Arthur Penner and Elijah Strawberry shot and killed Colin Hough, 45, a Rocky View County employee, on Aug. 6, 2024 on a rural road.
“I love you,” Laurie Hough told prosecutor Photini Popadatou during a hug after the verdict.
Neither Penner nor Strawberry appeared surprised by the court’s decision, standing with their hands clasped in front of them as the verdict was read.
The two men were also found guilty of two counts of armed robbery, including stealing Hough’s vehicle and attempting to take the vehicle of FortisAlberta surveyor Matthew Andres, who was shot in the arm at the same location.
Andres was approached by two men who were driving a vehicle that appeared to have a flat tire. One of the men shot him in the arm and then demanded his keys and put a gun to his head. Andres managed to escape and watched from a distance as the truck driven by the two defendants was set on fire and Hough went to investigate.
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He said Penner and Strawberry ran toward Hough’s vehicle and started shooting at it. Hough was hit three times and left on the road. The vehicle was stolen.
But Andres said both men were masked and he could not identify them as Penner and Strawberry.
The two men were also initially charged with attempted murder, but King’s Court Judge Shane Parker threw out the charges and acquitted them.
Strawberry and Penner will face mandatory sentences of 25 years to life. Jurors were asked for recommendations on how long each person should serve before being eligible for parole.
Results range from a minimum of 10 years to 25 years.
A sentencing date will be set for Oct. 16. Strawberry’s attorney, Rebecca Snukul, has requested a forensic mental assessment and Gladue report for her client.
Penner’s attorney, Alex Seaman, also requested Gladue reports, which are often used in sentencing Indigenous individuals.
Sentencing arguments are not expected until November at the earliest.
The trial featured video footage from a nearby semi-trailer driver that captured Hough’s final minutes. It shows a body moving across an intersection and collapsing in the middle of the road.
A .45-caliber bullet was found where he collapsed and a nine-millimeter shell casing was found near where Andres was injured.
Hough’s vehicle was later found abandoned. Penner, 37, was arrested five days later and Strawberry, 29, was found after a month hiding at a residence on O’Chiese First Nation.
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