Seven years for 2021 unprovoked fatal stabbing

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This article was published 26/07/2023 (1111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Felix Bernard Chief was just eight years old when he lost his left arm and two fingers from his right hand in an electrical transformer accident.

Family members say it didn’t stop him from doing anything people with two arms could do, such as playing basketball (so well he was offered a university scholarship) or riding a bike.

Chief, 28, was riding his bicycle Nov. 7, 2021, when a chance encounter with a group of drunk strangers in Winnipeg ended with him being stabbed to death.

“Bernard is someone who would give his last dollar, the shirt off his back to anyone, even if he didn’t know them,” a female family member told court at a sentencing hearing for one of his killers, 24-year-old Jordan Rae Myerion.

Chief spent much of his childhood in foster care, had a family history of residential school involvement, and struggled with addictions to drugs and alcohol, said the woman, who did not want to be identified by name in court.

“He talked of opening his own daycare centre and being a business owner,” the woman said. “He loved kids and wanted to ensure there was a safe place for them to be taken care of in his own community.”

Chief graduated high school and was offered a basketball scholarship at Brandon University, but turned it down so he could live in Winnipeg where he had family supports, the woman said.

Myerion pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the unprovoked attack and was sentenced last week to seven years in prison.

Court heard Myerion and three male co-accused had been drinking for several hours and were in the area of Burrows Avenue and Aikins Street just before 2 a.m., when they saw Chief riding by on his bicycle.

“For reasons unknown, Mr. Myerion and his companions knocked Mr. Chief off his bicycle and beat him severely, punching and kicking him,” King’s Bench Justice Theodor Bock said, reviewing the accepted facts in the case.

Myerion pulled out a knife and stabbed Chief five times. The attack was interrupted by a pizza delivery driver, and the four accused fled — one of them on Chief’s bicycle.

Chief was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead one hour later.

“The aggravating circumstances involved in Mr. Myerion’s attack on Mr. Chief are grim,” Bock said. “Mr. Myerion took part in an unprovoked attack on a weak and unsuspecting victim.”

Myerion was originally charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Court heard Myerion had little memory of the attack, due to his level of intoxication.

Myerion apologized to Chief’s family at a previous sentencing hearing, but could offer no explanation for his actions.

“I’m very sorry for what happened,” he said. “I wish I could give you more of an explanation of how things went down or why things happened the way they did, but I don’t know.”

A pre-sentence report prepared for court detailed Myerion’s family history as stained by residential school involvement, substance abuse and criminal involvement. Myerion has no prior convictions for violence.

Family members described him as “eager to please” and “easily led astray.”

Chief’s relative said Chief and Myerion shared many of the same disadvantages growing up, and urged Myerion to honour the seven sacred teachings of truth, honesty, respect, love, courage, humility and wisdom,

“I offer these to you in the hope that they will change your life,” the woman said.

Bock rejected a 14-year sentence recommended by the Crown as overly harsh, noting Myerion’s “genuine and heartfelt remorse” and dedicated rehabilitative efforts while in custody.

“Which says to me he has the capacity and willingness to change course and avoid future criminal involvement,” the judge said.

Myerion received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to just over 4 1/2 years.

Myerion’s three co-accused — Nicholas Brett MacDonald, Jeremy Aaron Scott, 26, and Aaron Brendan Swampy, 26 — are set to stand trial for manslaughter in November.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca