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Brandon Ethier waved goodbye to his supporters in court Friday as he was led away to serve a minimum 11 years in prison, as Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips delivered withering remarks in sentencing Ethier for the October 2016 murder of his friend and roommate Joshua Briere.
“You should spend every day of the rest of your life remembering Joshua Briere,” the judge said. “You owe it to him, to the community and to yourself. You have a life to live, Joshua Briere does not.”
Ethier, now 29, stabbed the 26-year-old Briere twice as he argued with his “good friend” and roommate at their Clyde Avenue apartment during a birthday party fuelled by “copious drinking (where) a variety of drugs were consumed,” the judge said in a summary of the facts.
Ethier had testified he spent that day and night drinking heavily while using the eventual murder weapon, a 15-cm swivelled hunting knife, to cut cocaine into lines in his bedroom.
During a late-night argument, described by the judge as a disagreement over a perceived debt of $40 or $60, Ethier stormed out of his room, walked “directly” toward the unsuspecting Briere and stabbed him twice. One blow struck Briere in the arm and chest. The fatal blow went hilt-deep through Briere’s rib cage, piercing his heart.
“He reacted with a degree of violence that is shocking in the circumstances,” Phillips said, calling the killing “disturbingly senseless.”
Joshua Briere
Briere was unarmed and taken by surprise. Ethier “sprung the knife attack on him (and) gave him no prospect of a fighting chance.
“His decision to murder was so out of line with what was going on, and it is the unpredictable, irrational aspect to the violence that is troubling.
“The senseless nature (of the killing) just makes Joshua Briere’s death all the more tragic,” Phillips said. “It was clear that Joshua Briere was a man of many fine qualities who was well-loved. No sentence can truly recognize the extent of his loss on those who loved him most.”
The judge said he was “very struck” by the victim impact statements read into the record by Briere’s family, who described the void Briere’s death left on his parents, brothers and his young daughter.
Phillips also said he believed Ethier feels “genuine remorse.”
Ethier’s “judgment and mind were clouded by alcohol and drugs” at the time of the killing, Phillips said, and noted Ethier attempted suicide by taking fentanyl hours after killing Briere.
“In fact, I would go so far as to say that without alcohol or drugs this murder would not have happened.”
A jury found Ethier guilty of second-degree murder at the close of his four-week trial. He had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and claimed the killing was accidental, though witnesses to the killing testified it was deliberate.
Phillips considered arguments from the Crown, which had sought an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 12 years, and from Ethier’s defence team, which sought the minimum of 10 years.
Jurors also made recommendations, with seven suggesting a 10-year period of parole ineligibility, while others suggested a term between 12 and 14 years.
Ethier’s sentence, a minimum 11-year penitentiary term delivered Friday, will include credit for nearly one year for time Ethier served in pretrial custody.
While the prospect of Ethier’s rehabilitation was “not to be ignored,” the judge said, denunciation of the crime and deterrence of others like it were the principal goals of his sentence.
Phillips said Ethier’s lengthy criminal record, including violent crime convictions in 2008 and 2010 for robbery and assault with a weapon, and a 2012 breach of court conditions, has demonstrated a “persistent unwillingness to learn from his mistakes.”
After serving time for those crimes, the judge said, Ethier continued using and selling drugs.
“He still felt the inclination to possess a knife that by its design would have no other purpose than to be used as a weapon,” Phillips said of the murder weapon.
Phillips said the murder showed a “spontaneous loss of self-control and an abject failure by Mr. Ethier to keep his emotions in check. … He learned essentially nothing from his many involvements in the criminal justice system.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
“You should spend every day of the rest of your life remembering Joshua Briere,” the judge said. “You owe it to him, to the community and to yourself. You have a life to live, Joshua Briere does not.”
Ethier, now 29, stabbed the 26-year-old Briere twice as he argued with his “good friend” and roommate at their Clyde Avenue apartment during a birthday party fuelled by “copious drinking (where) a variety of drugs were consumed,” the judge said in a summary of the facts.
Ethier had testified he spent that day and night drinking heavily while using the eventual murder weapon, a 15-cm swivelled hunting knife, to cut cocaine into lines in his bedroom.
During a late-night argument, described by the judge as a disagreement over a perceived debt of $40 or $60, Ethier stormed out of his room, walked “directly” toward the unsuspecting Briere and stabbed him twice. One blow struck Briere in the arm and chest. The fatal blow went hilt-deep through Briere’s rib cage, piercing his heart.
“He reacted with a degree of violence that is shocking in the circumstances,” Phillips said, calling the killing “disturbingly senseless.”
Joshua Briere
Briere was unarmed and taken by surprise. Ethier “sprung the knife attack on him (and) gave him no prospect of a fighting chance.
“His decision to murder was so out of line with what was going on, and it is the unpredictable, irrational aspect to the violence that is troubling.
“The senseless nature (of the killing) just makes Joshua Briere’s death all the more tragic,” Phillips said. “It was clear that Joshua Briere was a man of many fine qualities who was well-loved. No sentence can truly recognize the extent of his loss on those who loved him most.”
The judge said he was “very struck” by the victim impact statements read into the record by Briere’s family, who described the void Briere’s death left on his parents, brothers and his young daughter.
Phillips also said he believed Ethier feels “genuine remorse.”
Ethier’s “judgment and mind were clouded by alcohol and drugs” at the time of the killing, Phillips said, and noted Ethier attempted suicide by taking fentanyl hours after killing Briere.
“In fact, I would go so far as to say that without alcohol or drugs this murder would not have happened.”
A jury found Ethier guilty of second-degree murder at the close of his four-week trial. He had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and claimed the killing was accidental, though witnesses to the killing testified it was deliberate.
Phillips considered arguments from the Crown, which had sought an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 12 years, and from Ethier’s defence team, which sought the minimum of 10 years.
Jurors also made recommendations, with seven suggesting a 10-year period of parole ineligibility, while others suggested a term between 12 and 14 years.
Ethier’s sentence, a minimum 11-year penitentiary term delivered Friday, will include credit for nearly one year for time Ethier served in pretrial custody.
While the prospect of Ethier’s rehabilitation was “not to be ignored,” the judge said, denunciation of the crime and deterrence of others like it were the principal goals of his sentence.
Phillips said Ethier’s lengthy criminal record, including violent crime convictions in 2008 and 2010 for robbery and assault with a weapon, and a 2012 breach of court conditions, has demonstrated a “persistent unwillingness to learn from his mistakes.”
After serving time for those crimes, the judge said, Ethier continued using and selling drugs.
“He still felt the inclination to possess a knife that by its design would have no other purpose than to be used as a weapon,” Phillips said of the murder weapon.
Phillips said the murder showed a “spontaneous loss of self-control and an abject failure by Mr. Ethier to keep his emotions in check. … He learned essentially nothing from his many involvements in the criminal justice system.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
