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Lethbridge man gets 4.5 years for manslaughter

Jan 4, 2017 | 4:19 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The sentencing of a 42-year old Lethbridge man on a charge of manslaughter proceeded Wednesday (Jan. 4), despite concerns from the defence.

In September, Lucien Maurice Cranechief entered a guilty plea to manslaughter on the day he was to begin a three-week trial.

He admitted that on Sept. 17, 2014, he kicked 37-year old Cynthia Pearl Badarm in the abdomen after she refused to give him alcohol. The impact broke one of her ribs, which punctured her spleen and led to her death. Both the Crown and defence submitted a joint submission of four-and-a-half years in prison and a pair of pre-sentence reports were ordered, with sentencing set for Jan. 4.

To open the sentencing hearing, defence lawyer, Telmo dos Santos stated that in two of the reports, his client refused to take responsibility for Badarm’s death. When he asked Cranechief why, he said he couldn’t get a response, telling the court that he felt Cranechief could no longer instruct him. Dos Santos continued by saying he no longer believed his client was fit for trial and that another assessment should be ordered to determine his exact mental state, as Cranechief suffers from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and may not understand what he was agreeing to.

After taking time to hear from both sides, Justice. D.B. Nixon denied the request, pointing out that an assessment that was completed for Cranechief five days before he pleaded guilty reported he was fit to stand trial.

Hearing that, dos Santos asked to withdraw from the case, saying he couldn’t ethically represent someone who he believed was not fit to instruct him. Again, his request was denied.

Moving into sentencing, the Crown touched on Cranechief’s extensive criminal history, which includes 143 convictions, 27 of which were for violent offences.

From there the two sides discussed the sentencing range for similar crimes – which falls between three and six years in prison – and agreed that their joint submission of 4.5 years was appropriate. Justice Nixon agreed, and handed the sentence to Cranechief.

He was also given credit for 837 days in pre-trial custody at a rate of 1.5 for each day. That leaves Cranechief with 388 days left on his sentence.