The third person charged in the brutal murder of a Red Deer man nearly three years ago pleaded guilty to a lesser offence in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday.
Brent William Crouse, 47, of Calgary was sentenced to time served, almost three years, after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder. Charges of first-degree murder and extortion were stayed by Crown prosecutor Robin Joudrey. A stay means a charge is held in limbo for a set period before it generally disappears.
Crouse was charged in connection with the April 16, 2008, stabbing and beating death of Sheldon Mark Hiller, 46, of Red Deer. His body was found in a ditch near Raven, 65 km west of Red Deer, on Hwy 54.
He had been stabbed numerous times in the torso, throat and thighs.
Joudrey and Calgary lawyer Norm Kelly reached an agreement just a few days ago and also agreed to the sentence.
Jack Hiller, Mark’s brother, said the murder has left him “angry, sad and emotionally scarred to know our baby brother was a victim like this.”
Jack Hiller said the murder has left the family with a feeling of guilt because they had been told by their mother to protect Mark but they were unable to see it coming or prevent it.
In an agreed statement of facts, Joudrey told Justice Jim Foster that Crouse was the driver of a vehicle with passengers Hiller, Larry Allan Scott and Charles Richard Beckett, which set out from Red Deer on April 16, 2008, for a “booze cruise” south and west of Red Deer.
Hiller, court heard, was very drunk, which agitated Scott.
At one point, Scott stabbed Hiller in the thighs with a knife while they were at Scott’s derelict trailer near Raven.
Hiller then got out of the vehicle to relieve himself, followed by Beckett, who came back and said Hiller was walking away.
Scott then got out and came back in a few minutes with bloody hands.
He told Beckett to wash blood off a knife. Crouse and Beckett helped wash blood off the car’s interior. The blood had come from Hiller’s bleeding legs.
On their return to Red Deer, Scott threatened Beckett with bodily harm if he told police.
Scott and Crouse then concocted a story that they had dropped Hiller off near Torrington and he was alive when they left.
Crouse had been set to have a nine-day trial earlier this year but his previous lawyer withdrew because of a serious illness.
Crouse was to be released immediately after providing a sample of his DNA.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com