At The Law Courts!

Good Day Readers:

What was expected to be a rather quiet day turned out to be somewhat eventful. Was one of only a couple in the public gallery of courtroom 120 this morning where Kelly Clarke is on trial for the April 2008 double slaying of Joel and Magdalena Labossiere in their Winnipeg home. The jury had been excused so we cannot report on the proceedings. What we can tell you, however, is Justice Richard A. Saull is expected to deliver his charge to the jury tomorrowing morning at 10:00 after which deliberations will begin.

No sooner had we departed the courtroom when "Sid the Kid" approached us with news the jury had reached a verdict in the trial of the "Native Syndicate 4" being retried for the March 2005 beating death of a fellow inmate and gang member at Stony Mountain Institution. BTW, our "Sid the Kid" is an older gentleman and regular at the Courthouse who seems to know everybody.

It's amazing how news of a decision in a jury trial travels like wildfire throughout the courthouse - it seems the media were all over the place within minutes. What surprised us was how relaxed, smiling and almost jocular the accused seemed before and even, although perhaps less so, after the decisions were delivered given in Canada:

Second Degree Murder

Penalities range from life (25-years) no parole for ten years to life until you are eligible for parole.

Manslaughter

Sentencing options are more complicated because there is no minimum. They can vary from probation (unlikely) to life in jail. Often those found guilty will serve medium range penitentiary sentences of approximately 7-15 years.

The jury was re-called and the Forman asked by the Court Clerk for each of the accused whether they were guilty/not guilty of second degree murder then the same for manslaughter.

Messrs Victor Ryle (represented by Martin Glazer and Co-Counsel), Alvin Cote (Ryan Rolston), Charles Coaster (Darren Sawchuk) were found guilty of manslaughter. Evan Myran (Roberta Campbell) was acquitted.

The jury was excused briefly and upon its return each member at the request of Mr. Glazer was polled individually as to how they had voted for Mr. Ryle. It was 12-0 for guilty.

The three guilty will be sentenced in December unless there are appeal(s). Evan Myran will be released early January after he finishes serving time on another conviction.

The jury took less than a day to reach its decision. Queen's Bench Justice Lori T. Spivak is no expected to sentence the convicted until early January of next year.

Come January we will be covering 4-high profile trials about which we'll be advising you shortly save for one. Private research has lead us to conclude it would be far too inappropriate for us to go public with our findings at this time. In fact, we may not even be able to discuss the case until the appeal process, assuming there is one, has been exhausted. Once we explain our reasoning we're sure you'll understand.

Finally sentencing of the two RCMP officers (Moyse/Ens) recently convicted of assaulting a prisoner in their custody will take place Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. before Justice Perry Schulman. The number of the courtroom in unknown at this time.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk