By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Blood Tribe man offers guilty plea for death of common-law wife

Nov 6, 2017 | 12:08 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A 43-year-old man has been handed a two-year sentence, after pleading guilty to a charge of criminal negligence causing death.

Jimmy Badman – who had been charged with manslaughter for the death of his common-law spouse, Sara-Jean Big Sorrel Horse – admitted to the lesser charge at the outset of what was supposed to be a preliminary hearing, which would have examined the evidence against him and determined if it was enough to warrant a trial.

Badman admitted that on June 26, 2015, he went into Lethbridge after receiving his AISH cheque. He then used the money to buy alcohol and returned to the tent he was living in at Moses Lake with Big Sorrel Horse. The two started drinking with another couple who also lived in a tent in the area, known as Tent City.

At one point in the night, it was noted that Big Sorrel Horse was extremely intoxicated and had passed out outside the tent. Badman – who was also heavily intoxicated – tried nudging her awake, but when that didn’t work he started hitting her, and proceeded to drop his body weight onto her chest multiple times.

While Big Sorrel Horse survived the night, and the two of them even went into town the next morning, she collapsed as they were walking back to their tent. Badman went and got help from a friend who called 911 and then performed CPR, however, Big Sorrel Horse was pronounced dead upon her arrival at the Cardston Hospital.

Week-in-review: Federal Budget, water agreements and success for tourism industry

Apr 20, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this weekend: April 19, 2024

Apr 19, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: April 15, 2024

Apr 15, 2024

The Crown noted that Big Sorrel Horse had sustained a total of 47 injuries, and that she died as a result of blunt force trauma. She had multiple displaced ribs, which lacerated her lungs, liver, pancreas and bowel.

Badman’s lawyer, Mansoor Khan, explained that his client suffers from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and that he attended a residential school, along with his entire family. He said that Badman continues to deal with addiction issues, and that all of the money he received – through AISH or picking bottles – always went to buying alcohol.

Khan joined in a joint sentencing submission of two-years with the Crown, who acknowledged that their case was compromised, as one of their main witnesses had died, and the others had been extremely intoxicated on the night in question.

In his sentencing decision, Judge Eric Peterson said Badman had cleared faced “dramatically disadvantaged circumstances”, both in his upbringing and with his continuing substance abuse issues. He also noted the Gladue factors associated with Badman’s Aboriginal heritage.

“It is beyond doubt that those issues led, both he and his common-law wife, to circumstances where this terrible result came to be,” Peterson stated. “It was not his intention to harm her, or obviously, to cause her death.”

With credit for time already spent in pre-trial custody, Badman has 325 days left on his sentence.