Man sentenced to 18 years for deaths of Wendy Carlick and Sarah MacIntosh
CBC
Warning: This story includes graphic descriptions of violence and refers to intergenerational trauma related to residential schools.
There was bedlam in the courtroom as Everett Chief was sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing two First Nation women Thursday.
Yukon Supreme Court Chief Justice Suzanne Duncan accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence lawyers. Chief will serve two consecutive nine-year sentences for the killings and be designated as a long-term offender. Chief will also be subject to a 10-year supervision order following his prison time.
Chief, 48, pleaded guilty to killing Wendy Carlick and Sarah MacIntosh, well-known community members of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation. Chief was previously facing a count each of first- and second-degree murder and was found fit to stand trial late last year.
The victims were beaten to death in the McIntyre neighbourhood of Whitehorse in 2017. Their partially decomposed bodies were found days after the killings, sending shockwaves through the community and beyond.
Duncan said aggravating factors of the case include intimate partner violence (Chief had an on-again-off-again relationship with MacIntosh), breached probation that included a no-contact order with MacIntosh and Chief's "extreme intoxication" the night of the killings.
Calling the crimes committed "horrendous" and "brutal," Duncan told the court the sentence is appropriate. She said it at once meets a test of protecting the public while providing Chief an opportunity to change.
"It's impossible to put a value on their lives," Duncan told a packed courtroom, "to fix the very real pain in the community. I give significant weight to the denunciation of this case.
"I can only hope this provides some measure of peace."
Autopsies revealed that both women had suffered serious blunt force injuries to their upper bodies and also had high blood alcohol levels, both of which contributed to their deaths.
In Carlick's case, a forensic pathology report concluded that while her injuries alone weren't necessarily fatal, there were no other obvious causes and the injuries "contributed significantly" to her death.
Forensic analysis found a fingerprint belonging to Chief on a vodka bottle in the home. There were also bloody sockprints and no evidence of anyone except Carlick, MacIntosh and Chief being in the home at the time.
Duncan said affecting the outcome of the case is that Chief has shown "sincere remorse" for the killings, submitted guilty pleas and apologized for his actions.
On Wednesday, Chief stood and apologized — at least twice — to the families.
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