Accused woman absent when judge finds her guilty of manslaughter

EDMONTON A woman wasn’t present in court when she was convicted of manslaughter on Thursday.

Joelle Reich, 50, was found guilty of having contributed to the death of her boyfriend, Warren McLeod, who died in hospital of complications related to blunt force injuries to his head.

Reich attended the trial every day, on time, with the exception of being late one day due to traffic. But on Thursday, after waiting 30 minutes for her to arrive, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman decided to deliver his verdict without her.

Though an accused person has the right to be present throughout their trial, if they “abscond,” a judge can proceed without them rather than issuing a warrant and waiting for them to be arrested.

“One can infer she is not here to avoid a decision being made,” Sanderman said, before reading his decision.

During the trial, court heard firefighters, paramedics and police responded to Reich’s suite in a downtown rooming house on March 18, 2015, and found McLeod, 47, unresponsive and lying on his back on the floor.

Court heard evidence that as responders tried to provide treatment to McLeod and prepare him to be transported to hospital, Reich told them that, two days prior, her friend and another man repeatedly kicked McLeod in the head because he’d assaulted her.

McLeod never recovered from his injuries, and died in February 2016. Reich first learned he’d died when she was questioned by police months later. During that interview, which was admitted as evidence at trial, she told a detective she’d kicked McLeod in the head after the kicks by the two men.

Reich’s statements to the responders and later to police were weighed by Sanderman. While he found that there was reasonable doubt she’d told firefighters that she called her two friends to beat up McLeod, he found that she was minimizing her own involvement.

“I find that the kick was delivered with force and was part of the attack that led to … Mr. McLeod’s death,” he said.

Sanderman found a number of statements Reich made to police, such as “I just wanted him to get his just desserts” and “I was just so mad at him I didn’t really care,” revealed her state of mind during the attack. He found her actions were a “contributing cause” to the death.

I find that the kick was delivered with force and was part of the attack that led to … Mr. McLeod’s death.

He also said that her account of being choked and badly beaten by McLeod before he got beat up wasn’t corroborated by the testimony of first responders who were in close proximity to her and saw no evidence of any injury.

Earlier in the investigation, police said they were still searching for two male suspects. One man was later charged in connection to McLeod’s death, but the prosecution against him didn’t proceed.

Sanderman did not find Reich guilty of a separate charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life, and another charge of criminal negligence causing death was earlier withdrawn.

Sanderman issued a warrant for Reich’s arrest before adjourning.