Cheers and tears after Supreme Court upholds murder convictions of Calgary couple who beat girl to death
Warning: This story contains disturbing details
In a decision delivered after just a few minutes of deliberations, the Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the first-degree murder convictions of Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon, a Calgary couple who spent a weekend beating Jordan's six-year-old daughter, Meika Jordan, to death in 2011.
Chief Justice BeverleyMcLachlinsaid the words "appeals dismissed," and then Meika'smother and stepfather, who fundraised to travel to Ottawa for Monday's hearing, wept in thecourtroom.
"One of the best things I'veever heard in my life," saidKylaWoodhouse.
"Those two little words have just made everything for us."
More than two dozen members of the Ottawa and Montreal chapters ofBikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) also showed up in support of theWoodhouses, anderuptedin cheers as the Woodhouses who are members of the Calgary chapter walked out of the courtroom.
"Vindicated," said BrianWoodhousewhen asked how he and his wifewere feelingafter the decision. "It's finally over."
Jordan andMagoon, who wasMeika'sstepmother, were originally convicted of second-degree murder, but their convictions were elevated to first-degree murder by the Alberta Court of AppealinDecember2016.
The couple's lawyers had arguedtheir first-degree murder convictions should be overturned because the Alberta Court of Appeal erred in elevating the verdicts.
For Meika Jordan, the weekend of Nov. 11, 2011, began with her stepmother,Magoon,holding a lighter under the child's palm.
To hide the burn from Meika's mother, Jordan and Magoondid not return the child as per their custody arrangement. Instead, over the next few days, the violence intensified; shewas punched andtripped, and had her head slammed off atile floor.
Meika was also dragged up and down the stairs by her hair and forced to run the stairs as a punishment.
The Alberta Court of Appeal found the child was forcibly confined, which elevated the convictions to first-degree murder.
Running the stairs was the "hallmark of this confinement," says appellateprosecutor Christine Rideout in her submissions.
Rideout successfully argued that the trial judge used too narrow a definition of confinement in the case of children and improperly applied the legal test for forcible confinement.
Early Crown victory
In his arguments,Miller asked if a first-degree murder conviction would be the result every time a child was fatallyassaulted by aparent based on the nature of that relationship.
"Maybe, I don't see what's wrong with that, actually," repliedJustice Russell Brown.
The full panel of Supreme Court judges heard the case.
The prosecutionhad an early victory at Canada's top court; after brief submissions from all parties, the judges granted the Crown's motion to strike much of what can be argued.
The only issue Magoon's and Jordan's lawyers were then permitted to address was whether the Alberta Court of Appeal improperly substituted a verdict of first-degree murder following a conviction of second-degree murder at trial.
Defence lawyers had wanted to argue for a manslaughter conviction, a new trial or outright acquittal (for Magoon).
Operation Safe and Sound in Heaven
On Nov. 13, 2011, Jordancalled 911 to reportMeikahad fallen down the stairs. Paramedics arrived and found her unconscious and in respiratory arrest. She died in hospital the next day.
Meika died from blunt force trauma to her head and internal injuries to her pancreas and liver.
The police investigation was dubbed Operation SASH (Safe and Sound in Heaven) and involved 158 police officers.
More than a year after the child's death, Magoon and Jordan were charged with first-degree murder.
A judgefound the couple guilty of second-degree murder.
But in December2016, the Alberta Court of Appealelevated the conviction to first-degree murder.
Mr. Big operation
During a Mr. Big sting, police pose as criminals, creating elaborate scenarios which aim to draw the suspects into a criminal life.
In the case of Magoon and Jordan, the couple was living in a van when police began the Mr. Big operation in February 2012. From February to October, when the operation ended, officers ran 106 scenarios designed to convince Magoon and Jordan they were part of a criminal organization.
Police also intercepted17,534 private communications between the couple.
Undercover officers set the couple up in a rental property at a massive discount. The detached garage on the property was occupied by undercover officerspretending to run a criminal business involving credit card skimming, fraud and drug trafficking.
Magoon and Jordan both developed friendships with the officers and Jordan was paid $15,000 with the promise of more as his work with the group continued.
When thecouple was told Jordan's arrest was imminent, they turned to their new criminal friends for help. That's when they began to admit what they'd done to Meika.
'Unimaginable cruelty'
Prosecutors ChristineRideoutand AndrewBargargued the Alberta Court of Appeal properly applied the test for unlawful confinementin findingthe couple guilty of first-degree murder.
"In an act of unimaginable cruelty, [Magoon] physically restrained six-year-old Meika Jordan and held her hand over an open flame while Meika screamed, kicked and eventually urinated," the documents say.
"This burn signalled the start of Meika's confinement by her 'caregivers.' In the days that followed,Meika was kept from her mother and subjected to repetitive acts of domination enforced by violence. These acts culminated in her murder."
The Calgary Police Service sent homicide Det. Mike Cavilla who led the initial murderinvestigation to Ottawa.
Inan interview with CBCNews Monday afternoon,Insp. PaulWozney saidthe serviceis pleased with the Supreme Court's decisionwhich "validates all of the work that went into this investigation."Wozneysaid both CPS and the Crown's office put "hundreds and hundreds" of hours into this case.
Despite the precedent setting nature of the decision,Wozney says today's decision doesn't change the way police and prosecutors will lay charges.
"It makes no difference to us whether it's family members involved, neighbours, a stranger, that means nothing to us.
What matters to us is to find the truth of what happened in an event, in a murder in this particular case, and to bring those people to justice."
Defence lawyers Bates and Nicole RodychrepresentedMagoon, while Brendan Miller and Jeinis Patel appeared forJordan.
The panel will release its reasonsin the coming months.
A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
CBCNews reporter Meghan Grant tweetedfrom the courtroom:
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