Pair appear in court on prison attack charges
Chesley Lucas, Robert Mills accused of assaulting fellow inmate
Chesley Lucas, who may soon face a trial in connection with the kidnapping and death of a C.B.S. man in 2016, will go to trial on unrelated violent charges this spring.
Lucas, 24, pleaded not guilty in provincial court in St. John’s Wednesday via video from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary to charges of assault causing bodily harm and breaching court orders.
The charges stem from an attack he and co-accused Robert Mills allegedly launched on a fellow inmate at the penitentiary Aug. 19.
Mills, 24, is also charged with assault causing bodily harm,
and appeared via video from the West Coast Correctional Centre in Stephenville. His lawyer told the court she is waiting on more information, but suspected Mills’ case would be wrapped up quickly.
Mills will make his next appearance in court Jan. 26, while Lucas’s trial is scheduled for April 27.
Mills is currently serving a three-year jail sentence for attacking a 21-year-old man with brass knuckles at a house party in Southlands in March 2016. He pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possessing a prohibited weapon.
Lucas is in custody on charges of murder, kidnapping, arson and robbery in connection with the death of Steven Miller, 25, of C.B.S. in July 2016. Miller was kidnapped from his home in the middle of the night — and the home was then set on fire — and his body was found four hours later in a residential driveway. He had been stabbed to death.
Lucas was one of four men charged in Miller’s death. Kyle Morgan, 20, was sentenced to a year behind bars last August, while Paul Connolly, 36, will go to trial in November. Calvin Kenny, 26, was charged jointly with Lucas, and both men pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, along with kidnapping, arson and robbery.
Provincial court Judge Colin Flynn rejected Crown and defence lawyers’ suggested sentence of 7 ½ years each for Lucas and Kenny, and Lucas has since applied to withdraw his guilty pleas. The two men will be back in court Jan. 22.