Jassem found not guilty in 2019 double homicide

Brantford drug-dealer Salloum Jassem was found not guilty in the double homicide of Larry Reynolds and Lynn Van Every on Thursday after a judge said there were too many problems with the Crown’s theory that Jassem orchestrated the innocent couple’s deaths.

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Justice Joseph Henderson said the circumstantial evidence presented by the Crown wasn’t always corroborated by witnesses and he was left puzzled about many aspects of the shootings.

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“I have serious questions about why events unfolded as they did, Mr. Jassem’s supposed motive and why (the out-of-town killers) were at that address.”

The judge’s decision, read in Hamilton court in two parts due to its length, stunned family members of Reynolds and Van Every who have been following the case intently for more than four years.

“We are extremely disappointed and extremely angry,” said Van Every’s sister-in-law, who asked not to be identified.

On the other hand, Jassem, also known as Sal or Sallie, stood respectfully as the judge left the heavily guarded courtroom but was heard cheering “Yes! Yes!” from the nearby holding cell.

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Jassem’s lawyer, Jaime Stephenson, said she, her co-counsel, her client and his family were all “very grateful” for the decision.

“(We’re) very pleased that Justice Henderson gave such a thorough and well-reasoned decision in this matter,” Stephenson said in an email.

“It was a difficult case because two truly innocent people lost their lives.”

On July 18, 2019, five Toronto area men got into two vehicles and drove to 10 Park Rd. South in Brantford carrying at least two guns.

According to one of the men – Kareem Zedan, who has been convicted on two counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years – he had taken a $50,000 contract to kill the drug-dealing son of Reynolds and Van Every.

Zedan said he offered one of his crew the opportunity to wipe clean an $18,000 drug debt if he shot Roger Van Every, who was under a form of house arrest with his parents acting as his sureties.

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After circling the neighborhood multiple times, the gunman ran to the house where Reynolds was watering his lawn/Lynn Van Every was nearby.

Reynolds was shot but stumbled through the front door, followed by his wife who was able to shut and lock the door. The gunman fired through the door sending a bullet into Van Every’s head. Reynolds and Van Every died in the hallway.

During the trial, Norfolk Crown attorney Shane Hickingbottom, who took over the case this year, said “Kareem Zedan is a liar and a killer, but based on the evidence, you can and should believe him.”

The Crown laid out GPS evidence from one of the vehicles involved in the crime and cell phone data that seemed to connect to both the car, the men involved in the shootings and the Jassem family home in Brantford.

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But Henderson ruled that Zedan, who provided the only direct evidence during a three-week trial, was an “untrustworthy and discreditable witness” and the corroborating GPS and cell phone data was “weak.”

“Many innocent inferences can be drawn” from the data, said Henderson.

And the judge listed some of the many times Zedan had been exposed as a liar through his police interviews, preliminary hearings and his own trial.

“The circumstantial evidence does not make me confident that Zedan is telling the truth.”

Henderson said there was “no logical explanation” for much of what happened on the day of the shootings.

He was left puzzled why Zedan would gather a crew to drive to Brantford without a good description or a photo of their intended target. He also wondered why, if Jassem wanted to kill someone, he wouldn’t have provided more information about the person.

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The judge also didn’t accept the Crown’s theory of the killings, which proposed Jassem was angry at Roger Van Every, who was selling drugs for Jassem and his brothers.

Van Every was arrested with Jassem Jassem in a major drug raid in Jerseyville and testified Salloum Jassem offered him $40,000 to take responsibility for the drugs.

He said he didn’t give Jassem an answer but the two maintained their drug business for a year after that before the shooting.

“Why would he wait one year?” asked Henderson.

Van Every said he and Jassem remained good friends during that time although he became “concerned” when another dealer, Coby Carter, was killed about two weeks before the incident with his parents.

“The absence of a motive favors the accused,” said Henderson.

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Jassem and his brother Seif Jassem were previously charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Project Platinum, a major undertaking in the GTA looking into drugs, firearms and feuds within the tow-truck industry.

Last year his charges, along with those of dozens of others, were withdrawn after wiretap and search warrant evidence was challenged during a preliminary hearing.

He remains in custody facing a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Brantford’s Coby Carter.

Roger Van Every also remains in custody, facing a first-degree murder charge and an attempted murder charge for the triple shooting at a Colborne Street motel seven months after the death of his parents. One man was killed, another was wounded slightly and a third was left a quadriplegic.

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