Guilty plea in killing of ex-CBC producer
A 45-year-old Toronto man has pleaded guilty to assaulting and killing a longtime CBC producer remembered as a “brilliant” storyteller.
Robert Robin Cropearedwolf pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a Toronto court Thursday afternoon for causing the death of 73-year-old Douglas Michael Finlay in an assault on Jan. 24, 2023. According to police, Cropearedwolf shoved Finlay to the ground and fled.
At the time, police described the assault as “random” and found no evidence the two knew each other.
Ontario Court Justice David Porter will later decide when Cropearedwolf will be eligible to first apply for parole.
Cropearedwolf appeared in court Thursday handcuffed by his wrists and ankles, hair slicked back and escorted by a police constable who uncuffed his wrists before he sat next to his defence attorney Talman Rodocker.
“I plead guilty,” Cropearedwolf said in a steady voice.
Finlay, a cancer survivor, died on Jan. 31, 2023, one week after he was assaulted while walking along Danforth Avenue near Jones Avenue in broad daylight.
According to the agreed statement of facts read out by Assistant Crown attorney Meghan Scott, Finlay was walking westbound while Cropearedwolf was going the opposite direction, “holding what appeared to be a red flame mask with a Spitfire logo over his face.”
Cropearedwolf walked through a small group of people and pushed Finlay while doing so. “As a result, Mr. Finlay fell into the large wooden planter on the sidewalk, hitting his rib cage area, then fell to the ground,” Scott told the court.
Finlay initially refused medical attention before officers found him “in distress” a short distance away. He was later diagnosed with two fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.
He was discharged two days later, but shortly after being discharged, he called 911 because he had trouble breathing. On the way to hospital, Finlay went into cardiac arrest and CPR was performed before he was placed on life support at the hospital.
He was pronounced dead on Jan. 31, 2023.
The preliminary cause of death was blunt-force chest trauma in a man with pre-existing “significant cardiac and pulmonary diseases,” Scott said, referencing the postmortem report.
According to the report, the level of chest trauma Finlay endured was “very unlikely” to be fatal in a completely healthy individual.
A few days after Finlay died, Toronto police put out a nationwide arrest warrant for Cropearedwolf on manslaughter charges. He surrendered unexpectedly to police on Feb. 28 last year and was not granted bail.
At the time Finlay was attacked, Cropearedwolf was out on bail on previous charges of assault with a weapon, mischief and breaking and entering in 2022.
At several points during the hearing when Cropearedwolf wasn’t addressing the judge, he could be seen with his head in his hands, eyes closed or looking down at the table.
At one point, Cropearedwolf spoke to his lawyer in a low voice asking about the possibility of parole.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 15.