 Bradley Miller of Picton, Ont. leaves Picton superior court Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 after being sentenced to a total of three years for aggravated assault. Miller had been tried for second-degree murder in the 2008 stabbing death of Kevin Monroe but pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to the lesser charge. (Sun Media/Luke Hendry)
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PICTON, Ont. -— What began as a murder case ended here Tuesday with an emotional sentencing for aggravated assault.
Bradley Miller, 25, pleaded guilty to the assault charge Friday in Picton superior court. He was one of two people charged originally with second-degree murder in the Sept. 20, 2008 death of Picton’s Kevin Monroe.
Justice Richard Byers sentenced him Tuesday to a year in a reformatory, including in the sentence two-for-one credit for pretrial custody. Miller also received three years on probation and several court orders.
Yet Byers — along with prosecutor Peter Napier and defence lawyer Doug Gosbee — admitted the trial had not determined who truly killed Monroe.
“We are no further ahead than when we began,” said Byers.
“There is no reliable evidence to put a knife in Mr. Miller’s hand.”
“If ours was a search for truth, we failed,” Gosbee said.
Byers’ voice sounded almost resigned as he began the hearing by outlining what he called a “difficult” case.
He first outlined the “facts as I find them” leading to Monroe’s death in a King Street apartment. Byers noted a criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt but that it was “difficult to assess” the truth given the witnesses’ “alcoholic fog” at the time and conflicting testimony.
“Some of them are outright liars,” Byers said.
He said trouble began that night with a fight over a cigarette. With nine people in the room, said Byers, Kevin Monroe assaulted four people, three of them female.
“Bradley Miller intervenes, at first as peacemaker,” Byers said. He said Miller restrained Monroe.
“Then, unexpectedly, Daniel Thompson stabs Mr. Monroe at least once,” said the judge, who described how Miller then struck Monroe repeatedly, including a hard kick to the head. Others were also involved in the beating.
Paramedics arrived to find Monroe dying. A small steak knife was found at the scene, Byers said, and was determined to have caused two of the three stab wounds to Monroe’s torso. The handle of a second knife was also found, and its blade was discovered lodged in Monroe’s third wound. It was likely that wound that killed him, Byers said.
“Nobody in that room saw Mr. Miller stab Mr. Monroe with one knife, let alone two,” said Byers.
Noting Miller had “quite rightly” pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, Byers said he must be sentenced on that alone.
“The police have clearly exhausted themselves,” said the judge. “They are plainly as frustrated with the results as everyone else.”
His face drawn and pale, Miller sat impassively throughout much of the hearing, often rolling his lower lip over his upper.
Crown prosecutor Peter Napier, who with Peter Barnes had tried the case, read five grief-filled victim impact statements from Monroe’s family.
Napier said the evidence was unclear but noted Monroe suffered 27 blunt-force injuries soon after Miller was “in close proximity.”
He detailed Miller’s 17 criminal convictions, several for violent offences and a total of six for breaching court orders.
“I am hesitant, on the facts of this case, to put a number before the court” in requesting a sentence, Napier said.
He said Miller’s year of pretrial time served would commonly be seen by the court as two years. Napier asked for a sentence “in the range of” four years less time served plus maximum probation, weapons bans, abstinence from drugs and alcohol use, and orders to provide a DNA sample and, while on probation, not enter Prince Edward County.
Defence lawyer Doug Gosbee called Monroe’s death “tragic … a senseless act of violence.
“Mr. Miller is extremely remorseful for what happened.”
He asked for a sentence limited to time served and two years of probation.
“He’s served his time,” said Gosbee, adding that if his client was to receive a custodial sentence, two years less a day would be appropriate.
He said there was “no evidence” Miller has a drinking problem, though he has used several drugs, including crystal methamphetamine, oxycodone and Percocet. He was receiving methadone treatment at the time of Monroe’s death, Gosbee said.
He said Miller had an “unsettled” childhood of travelling between his separated parents. Miller dropped out of high school and has “never really had a full-time job” but fathered three children. One died of sudden infant death syndrome; a daughter, Brianna, on Friday turns two; baby Bradley was born a week after his father’s arrest.
Gosbee said Miller wants to rebuild his life, resuming a relationship with his children and opening his own business.
“He’s not a lost cause by any means,” said Gosbee.
He asked Byers to sentence Miller for the aggravated assault alone.
“We must take care not to denounce the conduct of others by sentencing Bradley,” said Gosbee, asking for “parity” between his sentence and that of Thompson.
Byers invited Thompson to stand and speak prior to sentencing.
“I would like to apologize to the Monroe family for my actions that took place that night and I’d like to apologize to the courts as well and to you, Your Honour,” Miller said.
As he spoke, Miller waved a hand in the direction of Wally Monroe, who began immediately to shake his head and mutter, glaring at Miller.
Byers’ pre-sentencing comments were almost plaintive in their assessment of Picton’s “lost” youth.
“My overwhelming sense is just one of sadness … overall sadness as I watched the actors come before me and tell their story,” Byers said.
“All these young people living in our town aimlessly — addicted, making babies, not working, no future. Lost! Just lost, all of them.
“Where are the adults for these kids?” asked the judge. “And the violence — even the women! What future do these kids have, or their kids have?
“Violence just begets more violence.”
Byers said he was required to sentence Miller for the offence to which he’d pleaded guilty.
“I’m not sentencing him for stabbing Mr. Monroe and I’m not sentencing him for initiating any stabbing.”
Byers said Miller didn’t act alone in the attacks “but he’s not responsible for the death of Mr. Monroe.
“I hope sometime before I retire I’ll be here and there’ll be somebody there (before the court) who was (responsible). I think there’s a chance of it.”
Byers addressed Miller directly.
“You’ve got a whole life ahead of you and now you’re in the penitentiary business,” Byers said. “You know what happens to young guys in the penitentiary? Very bad things.”
The judge recalled a book he read in which it was stated anyone who spends six or more years in prison is “lost forever,” so changed are they by life there.
“You’re getting close,” Byers told Miller.
He then imposed the sentence. Byers also ordered Miller to spend the three years after his release on probation, during which time he’ll be banned from possessing weapons and must reside in Ontario and seek drug and alcohol abuse counselling as directed by his probation officer. He must provide a DNA sample to the national databank of criminals’ DNA and, after probation, will be banned from possessing weapons for life.
Byers was interrupted by an outraged Wally Monroe, who screamed at the judge the sentence would have been different had the victim been the son of the judge or a police officer.
“I’m going to smash your f---ing face right in,” Monroe shouted at Miller before being led outside the courtroom by police.
Miller was the final of three people accused in the death to have his case resolved. Kingston’s Holly Blondin, 19, was acquitted earlier this year acquitted of manslaughter during a preliminary hearing.
Picton’s Daniel Thompson, 20, was charged with second-degree murder murder but received a four-year sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter. However, the Crown is appealing that sentence, which gave Thompson double credit for his year of pretrial custody, leaving him to serve two years less a day in a Brockville reformatory.
