Josipovic brothers get 13 years for murder
Judge said both brothers shared equal culpability
A superior court judge said gun violence and vigilante justice cannot be tolerated in the community as he handed down a minimum 13year sentence to two brothers convicted of second-degree murder.
Judge Harrison Arrell’s sentencing of John and Mike (Mato) Josipovic contrasted the Crown’s request for 18 to 20 years and the defence’s assertion that 10 years would be most appropriate.
The sentence does not mean the pair will necessarily be released in November 2026 — a date that factors in time already served awaiting trial. It only means parole officials at that point, or some point afterward, can decide to release one or both of them.
Arrell told the packed courtroom that both brothers shared equal culpability in the slaying of ex-Hells Angel biker Lou Malone on Kenilworth Avenue near Hope Avenue. John testified he fired the shotgun and Mike drove the vehicle that chased down the victim in the early hours of March 9, 2013.
But as “horrible and violent” as the crime was, Arrell said he does not believe the brothers “pose a risk to the community in the future.”
Prior to this, both brothers took an opportunity to speak to the court before sentencing.
Wearing a grey and black ski jacket and tearful at times, John Josipovic said, “I’ve been in custody for 2 ½ years and all I do is think, think, think,” wondering how he let himself “get into this situation.”
He said he grew up with Malone and they were the best of friends but they drifted in different directions.
Mike Josipovic said, “I still maintain my innocence” and “there is so much I want to say but my mind goes blank.
“I still don’t know how I got convicted … it was self-defence.”
But Arrell noted the argument of self-defence was something the jury did not accept in convicting both brothers for second-degree murder.
Over the course of the trial, the jury heard that Malone and an accomplice beat up Mike Josipovic outside Main Billiards, as part of an extortion of John.
Mike made it to the 7-Eleven at Main and Ottawa streets where he called John, who came to pick him up. From there, the brothers went after Malone, who they found walking his pit bulls on Robins Avenue.
John fired a shotgun blast that grazed Malone, whom they continued to chase in the truck, cornering him near Hope Avenue. John testified he knocked Malone to the ground with the shotgun and then shot him point blank.
Outside the courtroom Friday, Malone’s brother, Rod Malone, said: “It’s a bit surreal. When they did that, they screwed up my life, their families and themselves.
“If John would have come to me before this all happened, I’m sure I could have prevented it, talked to my brother.
“What they did was to me was very insane. I don’t care what the situation was. To run through the streets of Hamilton, shooting at my brother and possibly killing somebody else. Shooting up houses is a little insane.”
Members of the Josipovic family who were in court did not want to speak to the media.