Judge rejects 7 ½ year sentence for second time
Judge Colin Flynn says his mind hasn’t changed on joint recommendation
A provincial court judge has once again chosen not to sentence two men connected with the stabbing death of a C.B.S. man last year, saying he is still rejecting the lawyers’ joint suggestion on jail time.
Chesley Lucas, 24, and Calvin Kenny, 26, looked at each other as Judge Colin Flynn told the court in St. John’s Monday morning he hadn’t changed his mind about the defence and Crown’s collaborative recommendation of a 7 ½ year prison sentence. Lucas and Kenny have both pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter, forcible confinement, robbery and arson in connection with the death of 25-year-old Steven Miller in July 2016.
The suggestion included sentences for a number of the charges running concurrently.
Flynn said in September he had concerns with a number of aspects of the suggested sentence, and the sentence could undermine the public’s faith in the justice system. Certain parts of the sentence as it related to the two men in particular seemed “extremely low,” Flynn said at that time.
Flynn gave the lawyers an opportunity to respond to his concerns, but he said Monday his opinion hadn’t changed.
Flynn’s reasons and details of the evidence used to convict Lucas, Kenny and co-accused Kyle Morgan are banned from publication because another
co-accused, Paul Connolly, has not yet entered pleas and could still face a jury trial.
Flynn sentenced Morgan, 20, to a year behind bars last August, after Morgan pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to manslaughter.
Connolly, 36, is still facing charges of murder, robbery, forcible confinement and arson, and his lawyers have said they are waiting for the outcome of Lucas and Kenny’s sentencing before they enter pleas.
Lucas and Kenny will be
back in court Jan. 5.
Steven Miller was assaulted and kidnapped by three masked men with guns who forced their way into his Seal Cove home.
The intruders then set the house on fire.
Miller’s body was found four hours later in a driveway in the Bayview Heights area of Kelligrews. He had been stabbed multiple times.