What should have been jury selection day in the Lucien Crane Chief trial, started with a change of plans.
Crane Chief instead entered a plea of guilty to one charge of manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Cynthia Badarm.
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In an agreed statement of facts read by the crown, Crane Chief admitted to causing Badarm’s death in September of 2014.
Badarm was with a group of people downtown, including Crane Chief. Earlier in the day she had purchased alcohol and was sharing it with the group.
She refused to give any to Crane Chief and a verbal argument broke out. Crane Chief admitted to slapping Badarm in the head and kicking her in the stomach.
When police arrived, Crane Chief was gone. Badarm had a seizure shortly after officers arrived. On route to the hospital, she told paramedics she had drank hand sanitizer.
Badarm was taken to Chinook Regional Hospital, where she was placed in the hallway because there was no available bed. Paramedics checked on her every five minutes.
At 1:39 p.m. paramedics were called to assist another ambulance. When they checked Badarm again at 1:43 p.m. she was cold to the touch and they couldn’t find a pulse. She was declared dead a short time later.
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The autopsy showed a fractured rib from the kick to the stomach lacerated Badarm’s spleen, causing traumatic blood loss which caused her death.
The crown also stated that in previous mental health assessments Crane Chief displayed signs of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, though he was never officially diagnosed.
“Crane Chief and the deceased, Ms. Badarm, had a lot in common, they grew up together, they were friends, they experienced the same sort of life, that’s difficult for them,” said Crane Chief’s lawyer, Telmo dos Santos. “They’re both indigenous people and they had poverty issues, addictions issues.”
The defense and the crown are expected to enter a joint submission asking for four and a half years, with credit given for his nearly two years spent behind bars during pretrial custody.
Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 4 2017.
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