Three-year sentence for beating and throwing man from van into cold

Blows to the head during a drunken fight on a gravel road near Duck Lake may not have killed John Brown, had he been given the chance to get help.

Instead, Bobby Gamble pushed Brown out of his van and left him in a remote location, severely intoxicated and without a jacket in -22 C weather.

Gamble was charged with second-degree murder after Brown’s frozen body was found on Highway 738, about a kilometre and a half north of Duck Lake, on Feb. 3, 2017. An autopsy determined the 52-year-old died from blunt-force trauma to the head with alcohol intoxication as a contributing factor.

However, the pathologist couldn’t completely rule out the involvement of hypothermia in his death.

“The parties agree that act of forcing John Brown from the vehicle, given all the circumstances, effectively eliminated the possibility of (his) life being saved, and thus was a morally culpable contributing cause of (his) death,” Crown prosecutor Barbara Herder said, reading from an agreed statement of facts.

The Crown accepted a guilty plea to criminal negligence causing death, which Gamble, 26, entered on Tuesday in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench. Gamble received a three-year sentence, less an enhanced remand credit of five months, after Justice Ronald Mills accepted the jointly submitted sentence.

“It wasn’t a fleeting lack of judgment in this case,” Herder said, presenting one of the aggravating factors.

Gamble frantically drove to people’s homes, crying and saying he had hurt someone. He smudged and asked for forgiveness.

What he didn’t do was help Brown, who he knew was injured, cold and intoxicated, Herder said.

Gamble, who lived on the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation, met Brown after stopping to ask for a cigarette light. They spent the night driving around, sharing mickeys of vodka Brown bought from the Duck Lake bar.

Around 2 a.m., Gamble told Brown it was time to go home. He said Brown refused to leave the van and started making racist comments, striking him.

“So I punched him hard. Three times,” Gamble told police.

Speaking in court, Gamble said he is ashamed and remorseful for what happened and constantly wishes he could change the outcome.

“I did not come from a life of privilege. I felt like a failure most of my life. I’m ready to leave those feelings behind and move forward. You’ll never see me back here again,” Gamble told the judge, crying.

Defence lawyer Robert Dyck said alcoholism on Gamble’s reserve played a large role in his upbringing and, eventually, addiction. Justice Ronald Mills agreed the “scourge of alcohol on reserves” left a devastating mark on both Brown and Gamble’s families.

He noted that, like Gamble, Brown’s family has to live with this terrible tragedy for the rest of their lives.

Through victim-impact statements read by the Crown, the victim’s sister said Brown made friends wherever he went and always put family first.

His daughter described how stoking the fire and making supper — tasks her father regularly did — are painful reminders of his death.

Mills said joint submissions are only rejected when they present a perceived breakdown of the criminal justice system.

“All I can do is complete the sentencing process. I hope that the family can find solace in each other and their memories of Mr. Brown,” he said.