Friends and family of Matthew Martins are holding a rally at Surrey Central SkyTrain Station on Sunday to express outrage that a woman accused of killing the Vancouver teenager was found not guilty.
Melanie Terrett, who is organizing the event, said people need a chance to voice their frustrations.
“We all feel outraged and helpless,” she said. “You walked away from (Monday’s verdict), going what do we do now? We don’t have a chance to appeal. We can’t go and have any say in the matter.”
Matthew Martins was beaten to death by Robert Forslund outside Surrey Central SkyTrain five years ago.
Forslund’s girlfriend, Katherine Quinn, was accused of encouraging the killing and found guilty of second-degree murder in her first trial.
She appealed the verdict and was found not guilty in her second trial.
Justice Wendy Baker found that when Quinn instigated an unprovoked fight with Martins, it created a chain of events that led to his death. Baker added that Quinn could have stopped the beating, which she watched from a car.
But the judge said the testimony of three witnesses was ultimately not strong enough to convict.
“To absolve this woman of any and all wrongdoing in the violent murder … is an abomination,” Terrett said. “She was responsible. Why can’t she be held accountable?”
Martins’ mother, Sandra Martins-Toner, said she has received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from “outraged citizens” since Baker rendered her verdict on May 31.
“We cannot change the verdict,” she said. “But we can continue to fight for reform so that this does not continue to happen to other families.”
