By Patrick Burles - @Patrick Burles on Twitter

Manslaughter Trial Avoided as Lethbridge Man Pleads Guilty

Sep 26, 2016 | 1:17 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A three week manslaughter trial that was scheduled to begin Monday morning (Sept. 26), instead ended in a guilty plea from the accused.

While those summoned for jury duty waited just down the hall, defence lawyer, Telmo dos Santos, stated that he had received instructions from 42-year old Lucien Maurice Crane Chief to enter a guilty plea to manslaughter.

Through an agreed statement of facts, Crane Chief admitted to causing the death of 37-year old Cynthia Pearl Badarm two years ago.

On September 17, 2014, Badarm met with a group of individuals downtown, which included Crane Chief. Over the course of the morning, Badarm purchased two bottles of alcohol that the group shared. They ended up at the Round Street Cafe around 12:15 P.M. at which time Crane Chief asked Badarm for some alcohol. She refused and a verbal argument escalated to the point where Crane Chief slapped Badarm in the head and kicked her in the abdomen.

When Lethbridge Police arrived, Crane Chief had left the scene and Badarm indicated where she was kicked before having a seizure. After being picked up by an ambulance, Badarm told the EMTs she had been drinking hand sanitizer.

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Once at the hospital there was no bed available for Badarm, so she waited in the hallway on a stretcher with the EMTs checking on her every five minutes. At 1:39 P.M. the EMTs were called for assistance from another ambulance, and when they returned at 1:43 P.M. Badarm was cold to the touch and they couldn’t find her pulse. They commenced CPR and moved Badarm to the emergency room, but they were never able to revive her.

An autopsy the next day showed the kick from Crane Chief had fractured a rib, which then lacerated Badarm’s spleen, causing traumatic blood loss and her eventual death.

Crane Chief was arrested on September 19, 2014, and has remained in custody since then.

After reading in the facts of the case, the Crown noted that a psychological assessment of Crane Chief showed he is in the extremely low range of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales-IV, and that he has moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. It was also noted that while Crane Chief has never been formally assessed for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), two previous mental health assessments suggest he has suffered from FASD since birth.

“From our perspective, this is a pretty sad case,” explained Santos outside the courthouse. “If Mr. Crane Chief had had the resources that he needed to deal with his FASD at an earlier date, then possibly this whole situation would have been avoided.

“Mr. Crane Chief and the deceased, Ms. Badarm, had a lot in common,” continued Santos. “They grew up together, they were friends, they experienced the same sort of life that’s difficult for them. They’re both indigenous people and they had poverty issues, addictions issues… My perspective is that there is really large gaps in how we deliver services to people, both in Mr. Crane Chief’s situation and in Ms. Badarm’s situation. If there’s anything that can come out of this case, it’s that we need to work harder to help people who have these needs like Mr. Crane Chief and like Ms. Badarm.”

The defence has requested a Gladue report – which will take Crane Chief’s Aboriginal heritage into account – and an FASD assessment in advance of sentencing. Santos noted that they will be submitting a joint submission with the Crown, asking for four-and-a-half years in prison, with credit for two years served in pre-trial custody.

Sentencing has been scheduled for January 4, 2017.