MONTREAL -- In killing Jun Lin, Luka Rocco Magnotta delivered on a promise made six months earlier to take the life of a human being, the Crown prosecutor said in his closing arguments Thursday.

Louis Bouthillier asked jurors to convict Magnotta of first-degree murder and four other charges in the slaying and dismemberment of Lin in May 2012.

Bouthillier said an email Magnotta sent to a British newspaper in December 2011 foreshadowed the killing of a human within six months.

"Someone famous once said, 'It ain't bragging if you can do it,"' he told the jury. "Well, there's another version of that that says, 'It ain't bragging if you can back it up' and, boy, did he ever back it up."

The prosecutor reiterated his belief the crime was planned and deliberate as he took the jury through the evidence and argued Magnotta's actions demonstrate he was of sound mind before, during and after Lin's slaying.

Bouthillier said the ominous email was followed by a rehearsal involving an unidentified man who appeared at the beginning of the video that eventually showed Lin being dismembered.

The man would leave the apartment groggy but unharmed on May 19, 2012.

Less than a week later, Lin, 33, would be the final subject of the dismemberment snuff film published on the Internet with the title "One Lunatic, One Ice Pick."

"He (Lin) just might have been the perfect victim for Mr. Magnotta," Bouthillier said, referring to the fact the victim had no family in Canada.

Magnotta, 32, has pleaded not guilty to murder and four other charges stemming from Lin's death. While admitting to the slaying, he is seeking to be found not criminally responsible by way of mental disorder.

Bouthillier said Magnotta's actions were inconsistent with someone who was out of touch with reality.

The prosecutor described Magnotta as purposeful, organized and fit. He was not seen doing strange things or talking to himself, he told the jury.

"This man looks like he's on a mission," Bouthillier said.

Magnotta, he said, might never have been caught had it not been for various events, including:

  • Acurious janitor wanting to have a closer look at a suitcase containing Lin's torso that was bound for the dumpster.
  • Surveillance cameras at a pharmacy capturing images of Magnotta as he mailed boxes containing Lin's body parts. The boxes didn't have the accused's name on them.
  • A Toronto lawyer sending a fax to police that led to them finding Lin's head.

"If not for those three events, there probably would have been no case against Mr. Magnotta," Bouthillier said.

But he told jurors Magnotta made mistakes as well -- he likely didn't know he was being filmed at the post office, while the evidence would have been carted away by garbage men had the slaying occurred a day earlier.

"People who commit first-degree murders or other crimes get caught when and if they make mistakes or if the police get lucky, or a combination of both," Bouthillier said. "This is what happened here."

While 14 jurors have heard the evidence, 12 will be chosen to hand down the verdict.

Late Thursday afternoon, the judge announced a change of plans. He will instruct the jury on Monday, rather than Friday, meaning the jury will not have to deliberate over the weekend.