Zakk Lafferty is guilty of second-degree murder in the 2023 killing of 17-year-old Deijean Drybones in Behchokǫ̀, a jury found on Friday.
The jury delivered its unanimous verdict after just under a day of deliberation. The conviction comes with a life sentence.
Lafferty was charged with murder in 2023. In October 2025, a mistrial was declared after a first jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. A retrial began last week.
The Crown’s evidence rested primarily on a taped interview in which Deijean, shortly before he died, said Lafferty had stabbed him.
The defence had argued RCMP exhibited “tunnel vision” and unduly focused on Lafferty when there were other potential suspects.
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Lafferty was remanded into custody. The Crown and the defence will determine when sentencing will take place on August 10.
The jury did not recommend any addition to the minimum 10 years Lafferty must serve before parole is considered.
In a related written ruling, circulated on Friday, Justice David Gates found Lafferty’s Charter right to be tried “within a reasonable time” had not been breached.
The trial concluded some 37 months after Lafferty was initially charged, above the established 30-month ceiling to which courts are supposed to adhere.
Gates said 284 days – the time between the mistrial and the end of the second trial – should be deducted from that total as “an exceptional circumstance,” bringing it below the threshold at which an accused person’s rights are breached.
