A central Alberta woman who drove the getaway vehicle for a man accused of fatally shooting a Christmas shopper outside a Red Deer Walmart in 2019 was sentenced for vehicle theft and trying to evade police on Thursday.
Crystal Lee Maurice, 32, admitted the crimes shortly before a two-day preliminary inquiry was to begin in Red Deer provincial court. Crown prosecutor Dominique Mathurin withdrew charges of accessory to murder and dangerous driving.
Judge Bert Skinner ordered the Rocky House woman to serve a 12-month conditional sentence order, which includes three months of house arrest followed by nine months of curfew for evading police.
She is also prohibited from driving for a year.
The judge said he took into account that Maurice was not directly involved in the Dec. 20, 2019 shooting at the south Red Deer Walmart and that she has been co-operative with police investigating the crime.
Chase Freed is accused of shooting C.J. “Jim” Williams, 69, with a sawed-off automatic rifle in an alleged robbery attempt around 6:45 p.m. Police also allege Freed shot at bystanders as he fled the scene in the vehicle being driven by Maurice.
Freed has been charged with second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder and flight from police. His trial is set for June 6-30 2022.
The judge also sentenced Maurice to six months in prison, satisfied by time already served in custody, for stealing the Hyundai Santa Fe of a woman who met Maurice at a gas station on Dec. 19. The woman suspected Maurice was homeless and welcomed her into her home where she lived with her children.
While there, she stole the woman’s car keys and took her vehicle.
“She violated the trust of a Good Samaritan,” said Skinner.
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Mathurin said Maurice had gone with Chase Freed to the south Walmart on the evening of the shooting. The two went into the store and then split up.
Around 6:45 p.m., they both left. Freed put on a bandanna while Maurice went to get the stolen Hyundai.
Shortly after, Freed climbed into the passenger seat and she asked him what had he done.
“I capped a guy because he wouldn’t give me his wallet,” Freed told her.
Freed fired at other people and then Maurice hit the gas and sped away.
RCMP later spotted the Hyundai near Rimbey, where Freed had stolen a pickup. Police chased both vehicles and Maurice was followed down Highway 20 hitting speeds of 80 to 90 km/h. A spike belt was laid across the highway and two of the Hyundai’s tires were damaged.
Maurice did not stop, however, and after turning onto Highway 11A was finally bumped off the road by a pursuing police vehicle and she was arrested.
Defence lawyer Andrew Phypers asked Judge Bruce Skinner to sentence Maurice to about 7 1/2 months in prison to be satisfied by time already served for evading police and one year’s probation for the theft of the Hyundai.
Phypers said Maurice, who is Métis, was raised in an abusive home by a mother who had drug addictions. Her biological father was absent and her stepfather engaged in all forms of domestic violence. As a child, she hitchhiked around with her parents, who made their living selling drugs.
Maurice ended up in foster care and later got pregnant when she was a teen by a man who was physically, mentally and sexually abusive.
She was addicted to meth at the time of the Walmart incident.
After two stints in prison and a short stay at a badly run treatment centre rife with drugs in Edmonton, followed by further brushes with the law, Maurice found a place in a much better Calgary treatment centre. She spent 15 months there and turned her life around, becoming a house mom and peer mentor in the facility.
Phypers said Maurice is now off drugs.
The Crown sought a 12-month sentence for evading police and three months, to be served consecutively, for vehicle theft.