Christine Cousineau, grandmother of stabbing victim Ryan Durkin, is comforted by family members Tuesday at Vermont Superior Court in Burlington before the arraignment of Jacob St. Amour, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Durkin’s death. Photo by Ryan Mercer / Burlington Free Press, pool.
BURLINGTON — The suspect in a killing at the Champlain Valley Fair pleaded not guilty to a murder charge Tuesday afternoon in Chittenden County Superior Court.
Jacob St. Amour, 20, of Williston, is charged with second degree murder in the stabbing death of Ryan Durkin, 22, of South Burlington. Durkin died late Sunday after a fight on the last night of the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction.
Durkin was taken from the fairgrounds to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy confirms that Durkin died from one stab wound to the chest, according to court documents.
Police arrested St. Amour Monday afternoon near the Best Buy in Williston.
Public defender Brian Dodge entered the not guilty plea on St. Amour’s behalf. Superior Court Judge James Crucitti ordered St. Amour held without bail. Second degree murder carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
In an affidavit establishing probable cause for the murder charge, Essex Police Corporal Michael Wootton wrote that St. Amour can be seen on a cell phone video taken by a witness making a “stabbing motion toward Durkin” during an altercation.
Jacob St. Amour, 20, enters Vermont Superior Court in Burlington Tuesday, pleading not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. Police say he stabbed and killed Ryan Durkin, 22, of South Burlington, at the Champlain Valley Fair Sunday night. Photo by Ryan Mercer / Burlington Free Press, pool.
Several witnesses told police that the fight began when Durkin punched a friend of St. Amour’s, after which St. Amour started “acting aggressively toward” Durkin, Wootton writes.
St. Amour allegedly admitted to several friends and family members that he had stabbed Durkin, and upon learning that Durkin had died from the injury, St. Amour allegedly told a friend that “he would never see him again,” according to Wootton’s affidavit.
Police recovered a blood-stained knife from the same friend’s car, which police believe to be the murder weapon. A witness told police St. Amour had showed her and her friends the knife he was carrying that night, according to the affidavit.
St. Amour has numerous arrests in Chittenden County for crimes ranging from malicious mischief to assault and robbery. He has not been convicted of a crime, though several charges against him are pending.
A large group of Durkin’s family and friends gathered at the courthouse in Burlington Monday. Durkin’s grandmother told WCAX that she was overcome with emotion and feeling numb.
Several members of St. Amour’s family were present as well, and one called out to St. Amour as he was leaving the courtroom saying, “Love you, Jake.”
As the two families passed one another leaving the second floor of the courthouse, several male members of Durkin’s family said loudly that St. Amour must have been afraid to fight Durkin with his fists.
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