Crown seeking 17 years of parole ineligibility, defence 10 for murder
Sentencing in the Dorothy Groves second-degree murder case will resume early next month after lawyers’ submissions could not be completed in the two days scheduled for them in Peterborough Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Wednesday’s proceedings began with evidence from one witness, a Central East Correctional Centre correctional officer who described an incident at the Lindsay superjail, before prosecutor Amanda Kok outlined the submissions of the Crown.
Defence lawyer Tony Bryant then began his submissions in the afternoon, but could not finish them before court adjourned for the day. A new court date, Sept. 9, was then scheduled for Justice Alex Sosna to hear the rest of the submissions.
The judge indicated Wednesday, however, that he may not be in a position to make a decision on Groves’ parole ineligibility period at that time, meaning another court date would have to be scheduled for him to reveal the decision.
Sosna will decide between the legislated minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 years. The Crown seeks a period of 17 years, while the defence seeks 10.
Groves, 44, will receive a mandatory life sentence for fatally stabbing George Mackenzie, 66, in his Aylmer St. home on July 28, 2012. She was convicted July 8 after a jury trial heard testimony from 19 Crown witnesses and eight defence witnesses on 27 days spanning three months.
An incident that took place at the superjail on July 4 – four days before her conviction – was the focus of evidence provided by Amanda Morgan Wednesday morning.
The correctional officer, who has worked at the superjail for nine years, was preparing Groves in the admitting and discharge area for her daily transfer to Peterborough court when the killer threatened to attack the Crown over evidence that was being “put in” the trial.
“She was going to jump over the counter and smash her,” Morgan said during chief examination from assistant Crown attorney Lisa Wannamaker.
After thinking about it overnight, she said she “didn’t feel right” about the comment, and reported it to her manager, who requested she write a report to provided to prosecutors.
She noted, however, that hearing such comments from Groves is not uncommon. She “often” has outbursts she later regrets and apologizes for, Morgan said, pointing out that she had never seen Groves act on such threats.
Just last week, the convicted killer threatened another inmate with a “smashing,” she added, noting how the two must now be separated.
Groves has been housed in a nine-pod segregation unit for the past “couple of months” as she is prepared for integration into a new unit, Morgan said. She was moved there after she was not “getting along ” with her cell mate and requested her own cell.
The correctional officer, who started in one of two female units at the superjail in February, said she has known Groves “on and off ” for years.
Morgan also gave evidence about two letters Groves wrote, with the assistance of a fellow inmate, to be read before Sosna during the sentencing.
In one, she is remorseful and stated she wants to apologize to Mackenzie’s family, she said. In it, she writes that she doesn’t remember being at his apartment on the day of his death, but recalled, however, seeing him “falling on the couch.”
Morgan told Groves that “didn’t make sense,” she said. The second letter related more to the events leading up to the killing, she added.
During cross-examination from Bryant, Morgan said she was “unsure” if she spoke to the OPP transport unit the day Groves made the threat. She agreed she would have told someone right away if she felt it was credible.
She also agreed with Bryant’s suggestion that it was “more of the same” of what Groves has experienced over the years.
Morgan agreed she did not provide specifics, or an exact quote, in the handwritten report, but said she could recall exactly what Groves said that day. “I know that’s what she said. Dorothy uses the words ‘I’m going to smash her,’ often.”
In her sentencing submissions, Kok called the murder “senseless, callous and motivated by profit,” noting that while there was no evidence Groves went to Mackenzie’s place with that in mind, the crime was “certainly” motivated by her “need for drugs.”
She also called Groves’ criminal record, which includes more than 80 criminal convictions, a “significant aggravating factor” in the judge’s decision.
Her rap sheet includes 13 violent offences including robbery, assaulting a peace officer, assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon, uttering threats and assault.
Kok also described a list of other aggravating factors for the judge to consider, including that Mackenzie was a vulnerable senior citizen, the murder happened in his very own home and was motivated by Groves’ need to make a profit to purchase drugs.
The killer also showed “callousness” by using the proceeds of the crime to buy crack cocaine, and, disguised her involvement by lying to police and changing her clothes, Kok said.
Bryant disputed the latter point later, pointing out there was no evidence of his client covering up the murder scene, by locking the door, for example.
The fact Groves was on probation for breach of probation at the time of the killing and her inability to control her violent tendencies are other aggravating factors, Kok submitted.
The killer also poses a risk to the community because of her continuing drug addiction, even while in jail, the prosecutor said. The final aggravating factor, Kok submitted, is the “incredible loss and harm caused to Mr. Mackenzie’s family.”
Kok also said the jury’s recommendations are “owed considerable weight” in this case. Six jurors abstained from submitting them, but of the six who did, four recommended Groves be ineligible for parole for 20 years, while two recommended 15 years.
Bryant later addressed his client’s adult criminal record, which begins in May 1990, a month after Groves’ 18th birthday. She was “on her own, already,” at that time, in Toronto, he said, explaining how she then moved west across the country before returning to Oshawa and Peterborough.
In a brief letter provided to court as part of the defence sentencing submissions, Groves’ mother Nancy Groves, of Maynooth, called her daughter “a real good person at heart” that was “too easily” led into “bad things” as she got older.
She also wrote that she’s “truly sorry” that Groves didn’t heed the advice of her family, Bryant said.
The letter lacked any background or family information, the lawyer said, calling the document “representative of what Dorothy’s been facing for a long, long, long, time.”
Her dad died when she was seven years old, she had her first child at age 17 and she contracted HIV, which turned into AIDS, in 2000, Bryant said.
Sentencing continues Sept. 9.