Killer passed off girlfriend’s death as a suicide
Killing his girlfriend and passing her death off as a suicide, a ruse which worked for nearly a year, should land a Calgary man up to 12 years in prison, a prosecutor said Friday.
Crown lawyer Shane Parker said Luke Anthony MacLeod’s killing of Sheri Carpen amounted to a near murder and warranted a harsh punishment.
But defence counsel Susan Karpa said Parker’s sentencing range of 10 to 12 years was excessive and a punishment in the seven- to eightyear range would be appropriate.
MacLeod, 34, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the March 28, 2015, death of Carpen, 31, inside their Pineridge Bay N.E. basement suite.
He had been charged with second-degree murder.
According to a statement of agreed facts made an exhibit, the couple had engaged in a cocaine and alcohol fuelled fight in the hours before Carpen was killed.
The victim had been both manually choked and suffered blunt force trauma wounds to her head, one of which caused her death.
“The defendant caused the death of Sheri Carpen,” the agreed facts, filed by Parker, stated. “There was a final fatal struggle in the basement suite after assaults earlier in the night involving both the defendant and the victim,” it said.
“The defendant punched Ms. Carpen in the face and head, and he hit her head off of the tile floor.
“The defendant applied significant force compressing her neck.”
At 6:29 a.m. on March 28, MacLeod called 911.
“He was emotional and crying during the call,” the statement said. “In the 911 call, the defendant said that Ms. Carpen hung herself from the fridge in the act of committing suicide.”
Parker said the suicide claim was only disproved once an autopsy was completed nearly a year later.
Until then, Carpen’s family was under the misapprehension she had taken her own life, which Parker said was an aggravating factor in the case. He also said the domestic nature of the violence justified a harsher sentence.
“Your choice of a partner should never be a decision to die over,” he told Justice Keith Yamauchi.
Karpa said after the couple moved in together, they both started using drugs, leading to addiction and financial problems for her client.
Before sentencing submissions, Parker read victim impact statements from Carpen’s mother and one of her sisters, as well as two friends.
Yamauchi also heard from the confessed killer. “Nothing that I say can bring Sheri back and nothing that I can say will express how sorry I am,” MacLeod said. “I wish I could go back in time and be the man I should’ve been to Sheri.”
A tentative sentencing date has been set for July.
MacLeod remains on bail until then.