Calgary judge weighs whether Garry Dean Brown acted in self-defence in Ginnean Briggs-Scout killing
Crown and defence delivered closing arguments Friday in the trial of a 63-year-old Lethbridge man who admits killing a 28-year-old woman he had secretly seen for six years.
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Garry Dean Brown, 63, admits he strangled Ginnean Briggs-Scout, 28, in September 2024. A Calgary judge must now decide whether he acted in self-defence or killed her to keep their six-year secret relationship from his wife and family.
Brown testified that the two argued on Sept. 9, 2024, at his camper trailer near Oyen, Alta., where Briggs-Scout had been staying, and that she pulled a knife on him. He said he strangled her until she was unconscious with the belt from his housecoat. Days later, some of Briggs-Scout's belongings, including a knife, were found in a ditch about three kilometres away. A receipt bearing Brown's name led police to the home he shared with his wife of more than 40 years.
Defence lawyer Greg White told Court of King's Bench Justice Caroline Magnan that Brown "should be believed" and that "his motive was purely defensive." He said Brown "had less than seconds to act," and that there is no evidence contradicting Brown's account of the knife.
Prosecutor Vince Pingitore argued the case is about what the accused valued most. He said Brown kept the relationship secret for more than six years while deceiving his wife and family. Pingitore said Brown killed Briggs-Scout because she had his phone and threatened to reveal the relationship, and that "she became a threat to everything [he] spent years protecting." He argued that self-defence did not occur to Brown in his own testimony.
Pingitore said that in late summer 2024 Brown lost his job as a City of Lethbridge employee, after he was caught housing Briggs-Scout in a city-owned building.
Brown admitted right away that he had killed Briggs-Scout. His wife testified that he was "distraught and suicidal."
White argued that if the court does not find his client acted in self-defence, the only reasonable conclusion is manslaughter. The second-degree murder charge has not been decided. Justice Magnan will deliver her verdict, and no date has been set.
