Court swamped by murder charges

Eleven people facing trials in nine area deaths

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

25 June 2008

Posted By MEGAN HARRISON, STANDARD-FREEHOLDER

Cornwall has 11 separate murder charges on the docket at the Ontario Provincial Courthouse involving nine deaths going back as far as August 2005, and ranging in nature from gang-style executions to a schoolyard stabbing.

This is only the second time in the past decade the courthouse has had this many high-profile cases at one time, according to Crown Attorney Murray MacDonald, adding that he believes there were 12 open at one point during 2001 or 2002.

"We're a busy office, there's no doubt about that," said MacDonald, adding only that he believes his staff can handle the load.

The murders, which include victims from Cornwall, the United Counties, and the Akwesasne reserve, start with the Aug. 23, 2005 slayings of Peter and Jade Benedict, who were each found shot in the head in a parking lot on Tenth Street, and end with the stabbing of a T. R. Leger Alternative School student in May of this year.

James Maestrello and Michael Boyle have been charged with first-degree murder in the shootings, and a 17-year-old male is facing the same charge in the stabbing death.

Also included in the list are four domestic homicides and two murders involving young offenders.

MacDonald said his office resolves an average of four murder cases per year, with as many as six in 2007.

“We’re blessed with some very capable prosecutors who are dealing with all our criminal cases, large and small,” said MacDonald when asked how the heavy load is affecting staff at the courthouse.

“The volume of homicide cases and criminal negligence causing death cases just forces us to be more efficient in the way we assign our legal resources.”

Irvin Waller, criminology professor and director of the University of Ottawa Institute for the Prevention of Crime, said the average homicide rate in Canada is two murders per 100,000 people, per year, making Cornwall only slightly above average when taking the surrounding area into account.

Domestic homicides most common

MacDonald said there are currently nine Crown attorneys on staff to deal with the load, one of whom is dedicated entirely to resolving domestic cases, including the four homicides. The accused in those murders are charged with the death of their mother, mother-in-law, child, and ex-girlfriend.

Waller believes domestic homicides are to be the most common form of murder, especially in communities with high unemployment rates, and in families where alcoholism is prevalent.

 “When looking at murder rates, I would say that to have a high percentage of murders be domestic homicides is normal, at least in a statistical sense,” he said.

According to Statistics Canada’s most recent homicide report, one-third of the murders in the year 2006 were committed by a family member of the victim.

“Spousal murders are among the most common, and are usually perpetrated by the male in the family,” said Waller, adding that the least common form of domestic homicide is the death of a child.

Community deals differently with child deaths

Cornwall currently has two homicides involving the deaths the children. Carson Day is charged with first-degree murder is the death of his 18-month old son, Landon, in July 2007, as is Shane Haley in the death of Alissa Martin-Travers, which took place in April of this year.

Waller maintains that when a community is dealing with the death of a child, the reaction will often be much different than when an adult is murdered.

“Usually when a murder takes place, the primary reaction of a community is fear, especially if people within the community can relate to the victim,” he said.

“But with the death of a child, the reaction of most people is sadness, and some anger maybe, depending on the circumstances. But it wouldn’t create the same kind of fearful reaction as say, a young female who is attacked.”

Waller also agreed that gang-related murders tend to have the least visible effect on a community, because people are able to detach themselves from the victim.

“When you have gang shootings, or a drug dealer who was killed by another drug dealer, the fear that it could happen to you is not as present,” he said.

“It’s easy for people to push it away as something that happens on the borders of society.”

Though Cornwall’s violent crimes seem to be many, and for a wide variety of reasons, Waller said there is a silver lining to be had: charges have been laid in every case.

“When the police have arrested someone, and they’re telling people they’ve arrested the right person, that is calming, because there’s no reason to suppose that there is still someone out there doing these things,” he said.

“What needs to happen at that point is for the courts to proceed with finding the guilt or innocence of that person, and then for the city to determine which factors were at play in that case, and if something can be done to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Why are our courts a probelm??

The United Way realized that it had never received a donation from the city's most successful lawyer. So a United Way volunteer paid the lawyer a visit in his lavish office.

The volunteer opened the meeting by saying, 'Our research shows that even though your annual income is over two million dollars, you don't give a penny to charity. Wouldn't you like to give something back to your community through the United Way ?'

The lawyer thinks for a minute and says, 'First, did your research also show you that my mother is dying after a long, painful illness and she has huge medical bills that are far beyond her ability to pay?'

Embarrassed, the United Way rep mumbles, 'Uh..... no, I didn't know that.'

'Secondly,' says the lawyer, 'my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair and is unable to support his wife and six children.'

The stricken United Way rep begins to stammer an apology, but is cut off again. 'Thirdly, did your research also show you that my sister's husband died in a dreadful car accident, leaving her penniless with a mortgage and three children, one of whom is disabled and another that has learning disabilities requiring an array of private tutors?'

The humiliated United Way rep, completely beaten, says, 'I'm so sorry, I had no idea.'

And the lawyer says, 'So..... if I didn't give any money to them, what makes you think I'd give any to you?

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