Two accused plead guilty to second-degree murder in shooting death

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This article was published 14/05/2024 (479 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TWO men who were slated to begin their first-degree murder trial in front of a jury for a fatal 2022 shooting on Burrows Avenue instead pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder.

Mario Nippi and Fransisco Flett, both 25, were arrested for first-degree murder weeks after the April 12, 2022 ambush shooting of Brandon David Thomas Richard, 28, of St. Norbert.

The men entered their guilty pleas before Court of King’s Bench Justice Richard Saull.

Flett’s lawyer Ryan Amy said the Crown and defence arrived at a plea bargain agreement late Friday afternoon. The jury had already been selected, court heard Monday.

Crown prosecutor Amy Wood read a brief agreed statement of facts outlining the circumstances of the killing.

She said Richard left a suite at 1610 Burrows Ave. — a townhouse complex — at about 3:40 a.m. and entered the rear passenger side of an SUV in a nearby parking lot. A woman was in the driver’s seat.

“Mario Nippi and Fransisco Flett were on foot on a nearby sidewalk within the apartment complex. Both accused were armed with firearms, pointed at (the) SUV. Only one firearm discharged. Mr. Richard was shot once in the head, causing his death,” said Wood.

She did not elaborate on the motive behind the shooting or reveal which of the men is believed to have fired the fatal shot.

Saull will sentence the men next Tuesday; Wood said the Crown and defence will jointly recommend a sentence, but did not reveal what length of parole ineligibility they’ll seek.

A conviction of second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence with no eligibility to apply for parole for a minimum of 10 years, but that period can be expanded up to 25 years. A first-degree murder conviction requires a life sentence with no chance for parole for 25 years.

First-degree murders are killings considered both planned and deliberate. Second-degree murders are slayings that were deliberate but not planned.

At the time of the killing, Nippi was subject to a 10-year court order barring him from possessing weapons. He was convicted in 2020 of illegally keeping a rifle and ammunition in the Redwood Avenue home he shared with his mother in 2019.

Court heard at the time that he had been lent the rifle, as he feared for his safety after his home had been shot up by unknown assailants.

After Nippi and Flett’s homicide arrest, police searched their home and found a 10-mm Glock-style handgun with an auto sear — a trigger mechanism used to allow guns to fire in a fully automatic way. That gun wasn’t used in Richard’s killing, but it featured parts made on a 3D printer.

That pistol was assembled by a man, Blake Ellison-Crate, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison last April for running a 3D-print gun manufacturing and trafficking ring.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca