Ex-escort who withheld evidence jailed
Woman guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury sparked by love for killer
A former Ottawa escort who lied to police and the court about getting rid of a murder weapon and bloody clothes to help protect murderer and pimp Carson Morin will be jailed for her crimes.
Michelle Thompson, 23, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice Monday, weeks after already pleading guilty to perjury on Oct. 20.
Though she had admitted to perjury and the facts of obstructing justice at that time, the prosecution and defence had, in error, jointly submitted an illegal sentence to the court.
While she did plead guilty, the proposed illegal sentence meant that she might elect to face trial.
This newspaper did not name her then, in the event that her fair-trial rights could be harmed by the facts of the case, but is doing so now because the legal dilemma of her case has been solved.
On Monday, Ontario Court Justice Norman Boxall sentenced Thompson to 90 days in jail, to be served part-time from Monday night to Thursday morning, and two years of a conditional sentence, which includes one year of house arrest. Thompson was also sentenced to three years of probation. She will spend the next five years either in jail, under house arrest or under strict conditions of the court.
Thompson admitted to withholding key evidence from police in their case against killer Carson Morin. Morin was convicted of first-degree murder earlier this year for slashing Michael Wassill’s throat in May 2013 in Orleans. Wassill had been protecting a friend who had escaped Morin’s control as her pimp.
Thompson, in love with the murderer, lied to protect him out of a sense of “misguided loyalty,” her lawyer Jason Gilbert said.
She came clean at Morin’s murder trial, opting to give detectives a new statement.
In a victim impact statement to the court, Michael’s father, Rene Wassill, said the “sordid and painful details” of Thompson’s actions protecting his son’s killer have contributed to the “horror, sadness and despair” his family lives with every day.
Michael’s final deed was to lay his life down to protect a friend. His legacy will live on, his father said, whenever any of those who loved him does good for another.
Thompson mocked the court, he said. “Perjury stabs at the very heart of justice.”
Prosecutors and the lead homicide detective on the case agreed, however, that in finally telling the truth Thompson provided important testimony. It had a “dramatic impact” at trial, said Crown prosecutor James Cavanagh.
Boxall told Thompson that the justice system depends on truthful witnesses.
Thompson must remain in the province for the duration of her conditional sentence and will be ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.
She will also be banned from communicating with Morin and any members of the Wassill family.
“Your ordeal will end; for others, it won’t,” Boxall said to Thompson.
“Unlike Michael, you still have the rest of your life.”
The judge urged her to learn from her lies. Thompson declined to address the court and was led away, with tears in her eyes, by an Ottawa police officer.