Man awaiting trial in family's slaying pleads guilty to impaired crash
A Manitoba man awaiting trial in the murders of five people, including his three young children, admitted responsibility Tuesday for a drunk driving collision that sent two people to hospital.
Ryan Manoakeesick, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm for the Sept. 11, 2021 crash and was sentenced to nine months in jail.
Manoakeesick was on bail for the incident when, in February 2024, he was charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the killings of his common-law partner Amanda Clearwater, 30, and their three children — Bethany, 6, Jayven, 4, and Isabella, two months — and Clearwater's 17-year-old niece, Myah Gratton.
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Ryan Manoakeesick
Court heard Manoakeesick was behind the wheel of a Chrysler PT Cruiser, driving west on Highway 3 toward Carman when he swerved into the oncoming lane and collided with a cargo van carrying eight people, six of them children.
A 24-year-old female passenger in Manoakeesick's vehicle and a 45-year-old female passenger in the cargo van were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Manoakeesick's blood-alcohol level was later determined to be more than double the legal limit for driving.
Manoakeesick was sentenced to an additional 30 days in custody for uttering a threat to a police officer after he was taken into custody for causing a disturbance at a Carman bar in December 2023.
Manoakeesick appeared in court via video from Milner Ridge Correctional Centre, where he is awaiting trial for murder in 2026.
Crown and defence lawyers jointly recommended the 10-month sentence, which Manoakeesick has already served in remand custody.
Provincial court Judge Cynthia Devine was provided no details of Manoakeesick's background or his impending trial.
'Mr. Manoakeesick is proceeding to a substantive matter where both a judge and a jury at this point will be arranged,' said defence lawyer Morgan Lawrence. 'It would be prejudicial to proceedings if too much of Mr. Manoakeesick's background (was put on the record).'
'It would be prejudicial to proceedings if too much of Mr. Manoakeesick's background (was put on the record).'–defence lawyer Morgan Lawrence
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Devine said the case was a 'little bit unusual,' in that she typically knows more about an offender before sentencing them.
'I don't know anything more about you, but I do take judicial notice of the fact that you are an Indigenous young man and… the fact that colonialism and residential schools have wreaked havoc on Indigenous people in this country,' Devine said. 'I know without Ms. Lawrence giving me a lot of detail that somewhere along the way your family and perhaps you have suffered trauma.'
Devine said the recommended sentence was 'on the low side, but not unfit,' and recognized Manoakeesick could have successfully challenged the evidence against him on Charter grounds at trial.
'This was a true plea bargain,' she said.
Dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean PritchardCourts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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