There's a murder trial in Halifax getting some news coverage. see CTV link CBC link ATV link.
Nicholas Butcher is accused of murdering Kristin Johnston. The case is interesting in part because of the irony of it. Peace and love yoga instructor Kristin Johnston violently murdered. I must say upfront that Johnston died in a terrible and unjust way and she did not deserve what happened.
From the evidence there's kind of a frustration with Butcher and Johnston with each other, around money. Kristin needed a successful male provider (such as an established lawyer with a name law firm) to subsidize her money-losing yoga studio. Nicholas needed a successful businesswoman to help tide him over while his law career got untracked. Turns out neither was able to meet the financial needs of the other.
Kristin should have kept Butcher in the friend zone and made it clear he had to establish a successful career in law or somewhere else before she would commit to living together or a serious relationship. Nicholas I feel kind of a sadness about his life before the murder. He finished Dalhousie law school in 2015 but was apparently unable to take the next step and secure an articling position.
So if Butcher is just turned 36 now, he would have been about 34 in 2016 when the murder happened, and 33 in 2015 when he finished law school. yeah 33 and still in school. For a man at age 23 to be just finished law school - scrambling and hoping for an articling position - south end apartment - several part time jobs. That kind of salad days thing is kind of a cool scene at 23. But at age 33 it's kind of sad. By age 33 many male lawyers are partner or partner track, not struggling for an articling position from the outside.
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For Butcher taking the stand in his own defense. It's kind of crazy. I don't think he has helped himself much. Although he hurt himself by establishing credible motive for the murder. I wonder if he is trying to get off for the murder, or is up there trying to smear Johnston posthumously and make her look bad (or at least balance out the coverage which has been heavily pro-Johnston to this point). He has seemed to make a point to present some unflattering evidence about Johnston and her character.
Her yoga studio failed - more on that below
They started dating in June 2015 and were effectively living together by July 2015. yeah one month later.
On the same day she broke up with Butcher, March 25, she was in bed with Mike Belyea, whom she had been messaging with on Facebook behind Butcher's back. Later that night went back to her home and bed with Butcher. So yeah if you're keeping score in bed with two guys the same night, at age 32.
So he seems to be making a point of exposing Kristin to engage in questionable, tawdry activities. He looks no better but he perhaps doesn't care considering where he is now.
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About the yoga studio failing. That is not necessarily a black mark on Kristin. Businesses close all the time. New businesses tend to fail. It happens.
The yoga thing has followed a similar arc I've noticed over at least the last 30 years. There's some existing activity or hobby with a small number of established businesses servicing it. Then there's a sudden surge in public interest in this activity, a bit of a craze. A number of new businesses pop up around it. Public interest peaks, levels off, then eventually settles close to historic levels. Most of the new businesses close. So yoga studios are in with
baseball and hockey cards
pretzels
country music bars
pool halls
scrapbooking
martial arts / MMA gyms
yoga
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