PENTICTON – Second degree murder – not guilty, manslaughter – guilty. That was Michael Richard Beauchamp’s plea on what was supposed to be the first day of his murder trial.
Instead the convicted killer plead guilty to manslaughter in the death of 53-year old Terrance Wooley.
It was in April 2009, in the back alley beside a Penticton strip club, where Wooley was found severely beaten following an incident at the establishment.
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He suffered such serious head injuries he was in a coma for a month before dying.
It took RCMP almost a year before an arrest was made.
This is the second life Beauchamp has claimed in the past 15 years. In 1999, an Ontario judge sentenced him to ten years for manslaughter for beating a three year old girl to death. The girl’s internal injuries so horrific — she had a torn liver. In that instance, he only served five years, given credit for time served.
Wooley’s family didn’t want to speak today, waiting until the sentencing before addressing media.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Friday.
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