Suspects may face first-degree murder charges in Mountie’s death

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This article was published 18/06/2021 (1722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TWO Manitobans accused of manslaughter in the slaying of a 26-year-old Mountie during a traffic stop in rural Saskatchewan could have their charges upgraded to first-degree murder if it can be shown they meant to kill him.

On Saturday, Const. Shelby Patton was hit and dragged by a truck after he pulled it over in the town of Wolseley because the vehicle had been reported stolen. The driver raced off and Mounties later found the truck in a field about 1.5 kilometres away. The two suspects had fled on foot.

Alphonse Stanley Traverse, 41, and Marlene Velma Louise Pagee, 42, both of whom are from Winnipeg, were taken into custody and charged with manslaughter.

Winnipeg defence lawyer Scott Newman said Thursday the difference between manslaughter and murder is intent.

“Murder requires subjective intent — that you actually intended to kill somebody,” said Newman. “Or alternatively, that you caused them harm that you knew would be likely to cause death, and you did it anyway,” he explained.

“If I get in a fistfight with you, you fall down and hit your head, and you die, I didn’t intend for that to happen,” he said. “I didn’t know that you would be likely to fall down and hit your head. In that case, I don’t have the intent.”

If a person is so intoxicated they’re unable to understand the consequences of their actions, that can also reduce murder to manslaughter, he said.

But in the event a murder charge is laid when a peace officer is killed on duty, the charge automatically becomes first-degree murder. That carries a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Sentencing for manslaughter, however, varies widely.

“At the end of the range, you can get probation and no jail time for manslaughter. It’s rare, but it happens,” said Newman. On the other end, he said, manslaughter can carry a sentence of up to life in prison.

In 2017, a British Columbia man, Kenneth Fenton, was sentenced to four years in jail after he struck and killed RCMP Const. Sarah Beckett while driving intoxicated. The judge listed the man’s absence of a criminal record as a mitigating circumstance.

If convicted, Traverse and Pagee are unlikely to benefit from the same consideration. Traverse has multiple convictions for assault, breaking and entering, and breaching court orders. One conviction came after an attempted home invasion in 2007 that targeted a Manitoba Crown attorney. The lawyer had received a death threat a day earlier.

Pagee is scheduled to stand trial on charges that include possession of stolen property, drug possession, unauthorized possession of a weapon and breaching court orders. Traverse and Pagee currently face charges of manslaughter, failure to stop after an accident resulting in death, theft of a motor vehicle and possession of stolen property over $5,000.

In Wolseley Tuesday, hundreds lined the streets to honour the young constable as the hearse carrying his body made its way to the funeral home. The event was attended by his parents and sister.

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca