A 19-year-old man from Leaf Rapids will serve at least four more years in custody in a federal penitentiary after pleading guilty to the second-degree murder of Keith Woodman in 2009 and having the Crown's application for an adult sentence approved by provincial court Judge Doreen Redhead.
The convicted man, who was 16 years old at the time he killed Woodman, who was also 16, can not be identified under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act until his sentence is imposed and all appeals are exhausted, agreed at a placement hearing in Thompson on March 14 to serve his sentence in an adult prison.
"[He] is conceding that the most appropriate place for him at this point is an adult facility," said Crown prosecutor Jillian Brown.
The 19-year-old agreed with that assessment.
"Yes, your honour, I agree to go to adult," he told the judge, who ordered that his sentence would be served at an adult facility.
Shelley Briem, the victim's mother, who lives in Thompson, said the day before the placement hearing that she was glad Judge Redhead had imposed an adult sentence on the 19-year-old man, meaning that he faces life imprisonment with no chance of parole for seven years dating from April 7, 2009, when he was arrested, charged with second-degree murder and placed in custody.
"These juveniles who are killing, let them know that there is a harsh sentence out there," said Briem, who is still having difficulty dealing with her son's murder. "So all the other young up-and-comer murderers know that they can be put away for awhile."
Under the terms of the Criminal Code of Canada, the sentence for second-degree murder committed by a person of 16 or 17 years old is life imprisonment with no chance of parole for seven years. For an adult convicted of second-degree murder, parole eligibility begins after 10 years in custody.
On Feb. 2, Redhead approved the Crown's application for the convicted man to have an adult sentence imposed.
"I acknowledge the [he] has made some progress in the last 8 to 10 months while in custody and my hope is this will continue," said Redhead in her conclusion. "However, this was a brutal beating which included a pattern of escalating violence, culminating in the victim's tragic death."
Redhead continued, "I am of the opinion that a youth sentence would be of insufficient length to hold [him] accountable for his offending behaviour. An adult sentence will ensure that he will continue to be subject to state supervision, should he at some future time, be granted parole. The Crown has discharged its burden, and I am satisfied that an adult sentence should be imposed on [him] for this offence."
The 19-year-old man was one of two people charged in Woodman's murder. He and the co-accused, who was also 16 at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on March 29, 2011, the second day of a five-day preliminary inquiry. The Crown had given notice before the preliminary inquiry that it would seek adult sentences for both accused but withdrew its application for one of the accused, who was sentenced to two years of secure custody and five years conditional supervision on Sept. 1, 2011. The man who received an adult sentence, the Crown noted, decided to change his plea only after his co-accused expressed a desire to plead guilty.
In the application to have one of the two accused sentenced as an adult, the Crown noted that the one who received a youth sentence had only one previous criminal offence on his record, only participated briefly in the attack that killed Woodman and was a model prisoner. The man who received the adult sentence had 27 previous convictions, including 11 for break-and-enter and two for assault, including one in which the victim was Woodman. He was also convicted of causing a disturbance on March 2, 2009 in relation to a physical fight with Woodman that took place at the Leaf Rapids Town Centre.
Woodman was killed on April 4, 2009 in a Leaf Rapids residence where he was house-sitting. According to an agreed statement of facts, the two 16-year-olds left another house between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., with one observed to be carrying a baseball bat. They entered the home Woodman was house-sitting through an unlocked door and split up, with one proceeding downstairs and the other to the main floor. The one downstairs heard the other - the one who received an adult sentence - yelling "Where's the money?" and then the sound of a bat hitting somebody and someone hitting the floor. He went upstairs and "observed blood all over the main floor and the living room furniture in disarray. He was then passed the bat by the other attacker and he used it to pin Woodman to the floor while his accomplice searched the main floor of the house. The other attacker then took the bat back and hit the head of Woodman, who was lying on the floor.
An autopsy determined that Woodman dies of as a result of blunt force trauma, having sustained at least 28 blows to the head, with 19 lacerated wounds on the sides and back of his head, with defensive injuries on his hands. His body was discovered by a friend around noon on April 5.
After the killing, the two attackers returned to the residence they had been in before going to the home Woodman was house-sitting. The one who was sentenced as an adult was heard telling the other, "Just take a shot, bro; just forget about it." The following day, he was overheard referring to himself as a killer, describing the sound of the bat hitting Woodman's head and saying he couldn't eat because all he could smell or taste was blood.
Just two days earlier, the attackers had been found by Woodman in the residence he was house-sitting attempting to steal liquor, money and antique knives. Woodman and the attacker who received the adult sentence had a physical altercation and Woodman was able to get back all the items the pair attempted to steal except for one sword. The man now facing life in prison had been overheard after that incident saying that he was going to prevent Woodman from "ratting" on him about the earlier break-in and talking about going back to where Woodman was staying to beat him up.
