Free under 3 gun bans
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A man arrested in the Yonge St. shootout that left Toronto teen Jane Creba dead was under three gun bans following convictions at the time of the Boxing Day incident, court documents show.
Wearing a white Tracy McGrady Orlando Magic jersey, Jeremiah Valentine, 24, appeared briefly in Old City Hall court charged with second-degree murder and was remanded in custody until Tuesday.
The issue of weapons bans and lax bail releases have been raised by critics of the justice system recently. Firearm bans usually stem from weapon, drug or violent crime convictions.
Fighting charges
One of Valentine's lawyers, Iryna Revutsky said her client "will be contesting these charges.
"At this stage, we certainly don't know what the allegations are as we have no disclosure," said Revutsky, who represents him along with co-counsel Edward Sapiano.
"I think he's very disturbed by the allegations and he's concerned, and so is his family," Revutsky said.
Valentine is also charged with aggravated assault while using a firearm for the Boxing Day wounding of David Audette, Su Jeyie, Dorian Wallace, Jevoy Johnson and Pui Wiu.
Revutsky is defending Valentine on several, unrelated allegations, including robbery of a Toronto man using an imitation firearm only three days before the Dec. 26 crime that stunned Torontonians.
In and out of court
Valentine was arrested on that robbery in mid-January and was released on a promise to appear, the least stringent of conditions.
He and co-accused Junior Leonard Rodney face a trial in January over the robbery.
Court documents show Valentine has been in and out of court since 2004 on drugs and weapons charges.
Police arrested and charged several men in the Creba case in June in a city-wide sweep and vowed further arrests. Two other men are also charged with second-degree murder along with a 17-year-old, who cannot be named.
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