Parole board turns down killer’s latest bid for leaves

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This article was published 11/10/2014 (4280 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Convicted killer Michael Bridges has lost his latest bid for compassionate leaves from prison — due largely to the fact the relative he wished to visit in hospital has now died.

Bridges, 33, learned this week his application had been turned down by the National Parole Board on the grounds he didn’t meet the criteria for escorted temporary absences.

Documents obtained by the Free Press show the issue became somewhat moot when the male family member — whose exact connection to Bridges is blacked out — recently died from a terminal illness.

Bridges first appeared before a two-member federal panel in June, asking for the leaves despite not being eligible to apply for parole until 2029.

His request was denied. But last month, that decision was struck down on appeal and the parole board ruled Bridges should be given a second chance.

Bridges’ initial request was quickly shot down for several reasons, including the brutal nature of his crime and the views of the family of his victim, Erin Chorney. An impact statement written earlier this year was presented at the hearing.

Bridges and Chorney, 18, had been involved in a stormy relationship that ended shortly before he killed her in Brandon in 2002. The case would remain unsolved until 2004, and Chorney’s family still hoped she might be alive.

During an elaborate “Mr. Big” RCMP operation, Bridges calmly explained how he choked Chorney unconscious, then cut the cord off his mother’s hair dryer and used it to strangle Chorney. When she didn’t die, he submerged her head in his bathtub for nearly 20 minutes.

Bridges then carried her body to a nearby cemetery, dug up a freshly covered grave and placed her inside.

Bridges was convicted in 2005 of first-degree murder and lost a subsequent appeal. He tried to claim he was an innocent victim of police entrapment, despite having specific knowledge of the crime only the killer would have known.

Parole documents show he has completed numerous family-violence and anger-management programs while behind bars, upgraded his education and is now deemed a low-enough risk that he was moved to a minimum-security penitentiary earlier this year.

Bridges has also expressed interest in a future restorative justice process with Chorney’s family, “so that they can get what they need from me.”

The family has told the Free Press they have no interest in speaking with him.

www.mikeoncrime.com