New details emerge in Barrie's double murder case
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CBC
a few seconds ago
- CBC
B.C. man gets life sentence for 2015 killing of rival drug dealer
Social Sharing A B.C. man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a rival drug dealer in northern B.C. more than a decade ago, with no chance of parole for 25 years. Darren Sundman, 43, was sentenced this week for the January 2015 killing of Jordan McLeod along a snowy forest service road near Prince George, and leaving his body to be discovered two months later, in March. Sundman was first found guilty of the killing of 2018 but the case faced several delays, including an appeal process that made its way to Canada's highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada, in 2022. Family members of McLeod described the impact the delays had on their lives in victim impact statements delivered in a court room as Sundman listened via video conference. "This tragedy did not just take Jordan from us, it destroyed our family," cousin Natalie Lawrence said Monday, Aug. 18. "My family has been irreparably fractured and none of us will ever be the same." "Mr. Sundman's moral culpability is very high," Justice Marguerite H. Church stated in delivering her sentence, stating that he "brutally murdered Jordan McLeod" while he was confined in a "prolonged and deliberate manner." Sundman will be allowed to apply to have his time without parole reduced after serving 15 years, Church said, but warned it would be a high bar to meet. Nor, she said, would he automatically be allowed to apply for parole after 25 years. Rival drug dealers with 'mutual animosity' According to a previous statement of facts published by the Supreme Court of Canada, Sundman — who was 32 or 33 at the time of the offence — and McLeod, who was 24, were both drug dealers "with a mutual animosity," operating in the Vanderhoof area, west of Prince George. On Jan. 16, 2015, Sundman, along with his brother Kurtis, trapped McLeod in a truck, which was also occupied by Sundman's girlfriend Staci Stevenson and another accomplice, Sebastien Martin. Both the Sundmans had handguns while Martin had a shotgun and McLeod was unarmed. While driving between Prince George and Vanderhoof, the court found, Sundman repeatedly hit McLeod in the head with his handgun while his brother egged him on and drove the truck fast enough that McLeod would not be able to escape. "The appellant [Sundman] was angry with Mr. McLeod for many reasons," the ruling reads. "He suspected that Mr. McLeod was having a relationship with Ms. Stevenson; Mr. McLeod was encroaching on the Sundman brothers' turf by supplying drugs to the Vanderhoof market; the Sundman brothers owed a drug debt to Mr. McLeod and he was pressuring them to repay the debt; and the appellant had seen messages on Mr. McLeod's phone that had upset him." As the truck traveled east of Prince George past Purden Lake, Kurtis Sundman slowed the truck to make a turn and McLeod jumped out, fleeing "through deep snow, across a shallow ditch and barbed wire fence, towards the bush," the 2022 ruling says. Sundman fired his gun at McLeod "at least four times" and hit him three times, before a fatal shot was fired by Martin. The three men then loaded McLeod's body into their truck and drove west of Prince George, where they hid the body in the foliage along Kaykay Forest Service Road, where it would be found later that year by police, with the assistance of Stevenson. In 2018, Kurtin Sundman was found guilty of manslaughter, while both Martin and Darren Sundman were found guilty of second-degree murder. Victim 'forcibly confined' while fleeing: Supreme Court Crown prosecutors initially charged Sundman with first-degree murder, which is typically reserved for cases where a killing is both planned and deliberate, or when it is committed at the same time as another serious offence, which the Crown argued in this case was the forcible confinement of McLeod. However, the initial 2018 ruling found that McLeod's killing was not planned in advance. Additionally, the judge found that because McLeod had managed to escape prior to being killed, he was no longer forcibly confined and the first-degree murder charge did not apply. The Crown appealed the case, arguing that because McLeod was on an isolated forest road with little option for escape when he was shot, he should still be considered confined at the time of the killing. The B.C. Court of Appeal agreed and convicted Sundman of first-degree murder, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. "Even though [McLeod] was not physically restrained outside the truck, he continued to be coercively restrained through violence, fear, and intimidation," Justice Mahmud Jamal wrote in that 2022 decision. Sundman's sentencing was further delayed because of another case currently making its way through the courts. While the minimum sentence for first-degree murder is 25 years in prison with no chance of parole, the constitutionality of the practice of treating all first-degree murderers the same is being challenged. Justice Church said the prolonged nature of the trial had further added to the anguish of McLeod's friends and family, with their pain still "as keenly felt today," as it was more than 10 years ago. Sundman apologizes to family but denies charge Sundman, appearing virtually from where he is being held in the Stony Mountain institution in Manitoba, represented himself during the sentencing, having gone through "at least" four lawyers over the course of the past decade. He accused the judge, prosecutors, past lawyers and others of being biased against him, claiming his conviction had relied on false testimony from his former girlfriend. While he did not deny his role in McLeod's confinement, he said the charge of first-degree murder should not hold because he was not the person who fired the fatal bullet. That, he said, was done by Martin, who is serving a lesser sentence, which McLeod felt was unfair. The decision to charge him with first-degree murder based on the argument that McLeod was confined while fleeing, he said, were a "hail Mary," which proved the legal system had gone to "extreme lengths to single me out," and he demanded either a reduced sentence or a retrial. To that, Justice Church said it was clear McLeod "continues to struggle to understand or accept the findings" of both the provincial and federal courts which had upheld his convictions and that his "outrageous" comments showcased a misunderstanding of the legal system. McLeod entered statements from his mother and son into the record, which were not read allowed, but which he said showed that there were also victims as the result of his imprisonment. He did not, however, deny that he deserved some punishment for what he had done to McLeod. "I hate myself," he said, apologizing to the family.
CTV News
30 minutes ago
- CTV News
Judge denies U.S. Justice Department request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts
A board outlining the case against Ghislaine Maxwell is seen during a news conference to announce charges against Maxwell for her alleged role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein, July 2, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) NEW YORK — A U.S. federal judge in New York who presided over the sex trafficking case against the late financier Jeffrey Epstein has rejected the government's request to unseal grand jury transcripts. The ruling Wednesday by federal Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan came after the judge presiding over the case against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, also turned down the government's request. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls and young women. Epstein died in jail awaiting trial. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Berman said the information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts 'pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice.' According to Berman's ruling, no victims testified before the Epstein grand jury. The only witness, the judge wrote, was an FBI agent 'who had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.' The agent testified over two days, on June 18 and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow shown during the June 18 session and a call log shown during the July 2 session, which ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein. Both of those will also remain sealed, Berman ruled. Maxwell's case has been the subject of heightened public focus since an outcry over the Justice Department's statement last month saying that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The decision infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of President Donald Trump's base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up. Since then, Trump administration officials have tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of grand jury transcripts. 'The government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein file,' Berman wrote in an apparent reference to the Justice Department's refusal to release additional records on its own while simultaneously moving to unseal grand jury transcripts. 'By comparison,' he added, 'the instant grand jury motion appears to be a 'diversion' from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government's possession. The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged conduct.' Meanwhile, Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse weeks ago by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the House Oversight Committee had also said that it wanted to speak with Maxwell. Her lawyers said they would be open to an interview but only if the panel were to ensure immunity from prosecution. In a letter Maxwell's lawyers, Rep. James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was willing to delay the deposition until after the resolution of Maxwell's appeal to the Supreme Court. That appeal is expected to be resolved in late September. Comer wrote that while Maxwell's testimony was 'vital' to the Republican-led investigation into Epstein, the committee would not provide immunity or any questions in advance of her testimony, as was requested by her team. Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press
National Post
30 minutes ago
- National Post
Trump slaps sanctions on Canadian International Criminal Court judge
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration slapped a Canadian judge on the International Criminal Court with sanctions as the U.S. State Department continues to push back on the tribunal. Article content The State Department said Wednesday that Kimberly Prost was sanctioned for 'ruling to authorize the ICC's investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.' Article content Prost has been a judge in the trial division since 2018, following a two-year stint as Chef de Cabinet for the ICC president, according to the tribunal's website. Before joining the court, she was the first Ombudsperson for the United Nations Security Council Al Qaida Sanctions Committee. Article content She also worked for the Canadian Department of Justice for nearly two decades. Article content Article content The State Department also took action against other ICC officials from France, Fiji and Senegal linked it to the tribunal's investigation into Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Article content The department said French judge Nicolas Guillou was sanctioned for ruling to authorize the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. Deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang were sanctioned for upholding the arrest warrants. Article content The State Department has sanctioned a growing list of ICC officials with similar actions since U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the international tribunal in February. The sanctions freeze any assets the officials have in U.S. jurisdictions. Article content The ICC previously condemned the actions of the Trump administration, calling it an attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution. Article content Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of the international court. The State Department alleged it is a 'a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel.' Article content 'The United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC's politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach,' the State Department said. Article content Trump also targeted the ICC during his first administration over its probes into Israel and complaints over the war in Afghanistan. The first Trump administration took significant efforts to block preliminary investigations into the Afghanistan situation, which eventually paused the court's probe. Article content Trump and other Republicans have criticized the court saying it could lead to warrants for American politicians, diplomats and military personnel. They say the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel or the United States. Article content Trump's initial sanctions on officials were rescinded by President Joe Biden in 2021 and the ICC resumed its investigation into Afghanistan the following year. The court in July issued warrants for two senior Taliban leaders as part of the investigation. Article content
