Jury convicts 24-year-old of murder in Banff bar killing

A man on trial for murder in the fatal stabbing of a Banff restaurant employee in 2022 has been found guilty.

Jurors deliberated about nine hours before reaching a verdict Friday.

A second-degree murder conviction comes with a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 to 25 years.

Justice Robert Hall will hear sentencing arguments from Crown and defence at a later date.

John Christopher Arrizza, 24, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Ethan Enns-Goneau, 26, who was killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 5, 2022.

Arrizza never denied killing Enns-Goneau, but his lawyer Katherin Beyak argued her client was "incredibly" intoxicated at the time of the fatal stabbing and asked jurors to acquit him on the more serious charge of murder.

On the night of Aug. 4, both men, who were unknown to each other at the time, ended up at the Dancing Sasquatch in Banff.

As soon as he arrived, around 1:30 a.m., Enns-Goneau headed straight to the bathroom in the basement of the bar.

Just over a minute later, security camera footage showed the victim being pushed out of the bathroom by Arrizza, who stabbed him several times.

An autopsy would later show Enns-Goneau had already been stabbed eight times before he was shoved out of the washroom.

As bouncers intervened and got the knife away from the attacker, Enns-Goneau collapsed on the floor.

He died shortly after from his injuries.