Murray Wood: A special Grey Cup edition of who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week, Wood is pre...
A small gasp was heard in the courtroom Friday afternoon, as the jury foreman read out the verdict: guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of Misha Pavelick.
Sniffles punctuated the air as the rest of the legal formalities ensued, and one juror looked to Misha’s family in the gallery with tearful eyes.
Read more:
- Three men charged with first-degree murder in Timothy Tootoosis killing
- 14-year-old boy charged in Regina-first ‘swatting’ incident
The accused gave little reaction to the verdict in the prisoner box.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Misha’s father Lorne Pavelick started off by praising the abilities and tenacity of the RCMP.
“They just didn’t (give up). Right from the start, it was difficult, and they kept us informed as much as they could, but I’m grateful for that,” he said.
He also sent his appreciation to the Crown lawyers for their work, and to the jury for the time and attention they gave to the case.
“We were prepared for any outcome and this was the best possible outcome from our perspective,” said Karen Mondor, Misha’s step-mother, as she stood next to Lorne.
“It’s been 19 years we’ve been waiting, and nothing will ever bring Misha back, but it’s nice to be able to put this behind us a little bit and move on.”
She said people loved Misha, that he was a very likeable guy.
“(I’ll) just always think of him with that big smile on his face,” she said.
Lorne said Misha was just a young man who was finding out who he was.
“I’m not saying my son was an angel over there in that whole exercise, I mean, they were all young kids, but I know for a fact that he didn’t go out there to die that night,” said Lorne.
He said he’s grateful he had the opportunity to tell Misha he loved him before Misha went out to the party that night. And he said, during the trial, Lorne finally got to hear confirmation that there was a phone call made to him that night, as Misha was dying.
“And I got to tell him I loved him, it was going to be okay,” said Lorne, emotion in his voice.
When asked about a possible sentence, both Lorne and Karen demurred, saying they’ll leave that up to the lawyers. Lorne extended some compassion to the family of the accused in his words.
“They need to be afforded some sense of kindness in this time of grief,” he said.
The accused was 17 at the time of the killing, so he’s subject to the Youth Criminal Justice Act. However, the Crown lawyer had previously said he would seek an adult sentence if the accused was found guilty.
The maximum sentence for second-degree murder for a youth is seven years, the sentence for an adult is life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years but a maximum of 25.
The evidence set out in court
The accused was charged with second-degree murder for the killing of Misha Pavelick at a graduation party at Knookimaw Campground on the May long weekend in 2006.
He wasn’t charged until 2023, and though he was 34 at that time, he 17 at the time of Misha’s death, so he cannot be publicly named.
Misha was 19 years old when he was killed – court heard he died from a single stab wound to the chest.
The trial began October 20, and the Crown rested its case on Nov. 4, while the defence chose to call no witnesses.
Nearly three dozen people testified at the trial, including one of the responding RCMP officers, an RCMP forensics officer, the pathologist who did the autopsy on Misha and a DNA expert, as well as many people who were either at the party that night or encountered the accused afterwards.
According to the picture painted by the witnesses, the accused and a large group of uninvited people went out to the campground that night.
Two people in the group admitted to bringing knives with them.
There was either one long fight or two fights with a small break in between, depending on the witness telling the story.
In the first fight, witnesses said Misha approached a member of the uninvited group, Andrew Perkins, about Misha’s ex, who was Perkins’ new girlfriend. Witnesses said Misha hit Perkins with a glass bottle, and some said a fight ensued.
Some of the witnesses said the fight broke up and the groups separated momentarily, while others said it led directly into the second fight.
In the second fight, court heard from a number of witnesses that a handful of boys, including the accused, approached Misha and attacked him, eventually kicking and hitting him while he was on the ground.
The Crown asserted this was when Pavelick was stabbed.
Another fight between Scott Nelson and Derek Enns broke away, and many of the witnesses said that’s where their attention went. That fight ended, Nelson ran off and Enns stood up, and panic ensued when people realized he’d been stabbed.
This is when the uninvited group ran back to their vehicles and left.
Nelson told court the accused told him he “got him”, referring to Misha. At Regina Beach, where the group gathered a few minutes later, three people in a minivan encountered the accused. One person who was in the van said the accused told them “I stabbed a guy”, and the other said the accused told them “we stabbed a guy”.
Misha and his friends remained, some trying to give him CPR and put pressure on his wound, while waiting for police and EMS to arrive. Several said Misha died before first responders arrived.
As people in the uninvited group started to learn someone had died at the campground, those who were in the car with the accused told court the man accused of killing Misha became angry and upset and demanded the car be pulled over. They said he ran out of the car into the night, and they had to go collect him so they could leave.
The RCMP spoke to many witnesses at the party a number of times in the days after the killing and a number of times in the ensuing years. However, at least one witness confirmed she only came forward after listening to the RCMP’s podcast about the death in 2021.
The defence lawyer called into question many of the witnesses’ memories from so long ago, and the credibility of others like Scott Nelson. He argued to the jury that it’s just too difficult to know what really happened on that night beyond a reasonable doubt.
Read more:
