VANCOUVER-A Squamish man was allowed to hug his young children and say goodbye to his family before being taken from court to start a three-year prison sentence for manslaughter.
It was an emotional conclusion to a sentencing hearing at Vancouver Supreme Court last Friday [Nov. 12], following a moving account by the convicted man, 32-year-old Jesse Andy, of his dysfunctional family background and slide into alcoholism. He was drunk when he beat a friend to death in Squamish the previous fall after an argument.
Police found Gary Wray, 44, lying in a building entrance behind the Mini Flea Market on Sept. 8, 2003. He died of his injuries around an hour later, with a pathologist's report indicating he suffered at least 50 blows, including six kicks to the stomach.
Andy was arrested at the scene and charged with manslaughter. His trial opened Sept. 13, with the jury returning a guilty verdict on Oct. 8.
The prosecution successfully argued that Andy savagely beat Wray, who he suspected of stealing money from a mutual friend. Andy, claiming to have acted in self-defence, suggested Wray likely suffered the fatal injuries falling down the apartment stairs.
His sentencing hearing commenced with Crown lawyer Monty Rattan asking for a five-to-six-year jail term due to the "extreme violence" of the beating. It continued for more than 10 minutes, and was far from a one-punch "near-accident" manslaughter, he suggested.
Rattan stated that it would not be suitable to give a conditional sentence as Andy's disagreement with the guilty verdict and repeated bail breaches leading up to his trial indicated he was a poor candidate for rehabilitation. He outlined that police had picked up Andy for consuming alcohol on three occasions this year: Jan. 15 in Pemberton, June 23 in Vancouver's Lower Eastside and Aug. 30 in West Vancouver.
Andy's defence lawyer, Ray Dieno, said these occasions followed visits to his children, and that Andy was a good father who intended to marry his fiancée. He asked for a two-year conditional sentence, saying Andy was not a risk to the public; he was a long-term alcoholic that needed counselling and a chance to upgrade his grade 9 education.
"Mr. Andy was traumatized as a youngster," said Mr. Dieno. "He became involved with alcohol at age 11. He has blanked out the pain with alcohol for a number of years. Mr. Andy has never disputed that a fight occurred and that Mr. Wray did suffer blows at his hands, and suffered death. He is remorseful that this happened. He is remorseful at his role in that, and is motivated to never go through that again.
"Mr. Wray's mother said she bears no ill will to Mr. Andy. She just thinks he should get some treatment so this does not happen again."
The court retired to allow judge Victor Curtis to chose his sentence. Upon its return, Mr. Dieno indicated his client wanted to address the court. Andy's family, including his fiancée, sister, aunt and two of his three children, were present.
He spoke of growing up on reserves in Washington and British Columbia, of being taken into the care of his grandparents at age four after his mother fled her violent, alcoholic husband and of how his grandfather, who had been sober 20 years, commenced drinking again following the death of his grandmother. He would drive his grandfather to bars, for which he was never forgiven by relatives following the old man's death from liver disease.
He stated: "Alcohol has had a large influence on my life. It brought my parents together and tore them apart. Through my life alcohol has always been around. I drank hard.
"I tried to go to outpatient treatment. I was going well with my counsellor, but then they turned me over to one that was my brother-in-law. He was yelling at me. I go to A.A. dances and have sober friends as well as drunk friends.
"Gary [Wray] was my friend. I loved that man. We spent time together. In the past year I have lost six friends, including my cousin. I'm sorry for what has happened and will have to live with this for the rest of my life."
He ended by saying that whatever happened, he had to quit drinking, get an education, find a job, find a house and support his children.
However, Judge Curtis said the seriousness of the crime, together with the bail infringements and Andy's apparent lack of remorse (while accepting his sorrow for what happened) indicated that a conditional sentence was unlikely to work. He said the penitentiary would be the best place for treatment.
He sentenced Andy to three years in jail, less time spent on remand, which will work out at two years and four months. Andy was allowed to say a brief goodbye to his family before being lead away to jail, leaning over into the public gallery to hug his children.
