Justice Delayed: The Cost of a Six-Year Wait in the Smoke Dawg Case
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
As a 24-year-old accused hides behind a youth protection order, the families of Jahvante Smart and Ernest Modekwe are left waiting nearly a decade for closure.
OPINION: In the pursuit of justice, time is rarely a neutral factor. For the families of Jahvante Smart and Ernest Modekwe, time has become a barrier. As CBC Toronto first reported, it has been six years since the June 30, 2018, shooting on Queen Street West that claimed the lives of the rapper known as Smoke Dawg and brand manager Ernest Modekwe, known as Koba Prime. While one perpetrator has been dealt with, the legal system's inability to bring the second accused to trial until 2026 is a failure of timeliness.
According to reporting from CBC Toronto, the second accused—now 24—is currently being tried in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the presiding eye of Justice Michael Dineen. However, the accused's identity remains shielded from the public under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, despite the fact that he is now a grown man. This protection persists even as the court grapples with the violent reality of that night: a shooting that left two men dead and a bystander wounded in the leg.
The delay in this case is not merely a matter of court scheduling; it is a matter of evasion. CBC Toronto reports that the accused fled Ontario following the 2018 shootings and was not apprehended until his arrest in Alberta in 2025. Because of this flight, the second party remained free for years, even as co-accused Abdulkadir Handule was convicted in February 2022 of discharge of a firearm with intent, aggravated assault, and two counts of second-degree murder.
Handule, who was 22 during the crime, was given a life sentence and is ineligible for parole for 20 years. Yet, the void left by the second accused has lingered. The Crown is now seeking convictions on two counts of second-degree murder against the 24-year-old.
In court, defence lawyer Gary Grill has attempted to frame the violence as a chaotic reaction rather than a coordinated attack. Grill argues that the accused, who was 16 at the time, fired only after Smart shot first. He contends that the shooting was not a "Hollywood movie" and that the accused is not guilty of second-degree murder, though Grill has conceded that his client is guilty of aggravated assault.
An agreed statement of facts provided to the court paints a chilling picture. The accused allegedly spotted Smart and told Handule, "that guy is here." Following a verbal altercation, Smart reportedly began firing, and the accused immediately fired back. The statement notes that within two seconds, Smart and Modekwe were seen going to the ground. While Handule is credited with the fatal shot to the back of Smart's head, the chaos of the gunfire means the pathologist could not determine the order of wounds or which firearm killed Modekwe.
Six years is an eternity for a grieving family. The court is now tasked with deciding if a teenager's reaction to gunfire justifies a murder conviction, but the broader question remains: why did it take until 2026 to reach this point? Justice Michael Dineen is expected to deliver a ruling in November. For the families of Smart and Modekwe, the hope is that the ruling finally ends a wait that has already lasted far too long.