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A 28-year-old Creston man was sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for 10 years when he appeared in Supreme Court in Cranbrook Thursday and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Jonathon Christopher Weisbrodt originally pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder when the trial began before Mr. Justice Peter Leask April 12. After approximately 20 trial days he changed his plea to guilty of second-degree murder and the trail came to an abrupt end and the jury discharged.
Weisbrodt was charged after the mysterious shooting death of Bryan Allan Harvey, whose body was found in a gravel pit just outside of Creston Aug. 4, 2004 in what is believed to be a drug-related incident.
Weisbrodt’s lawyer Alexander Watt, who defended the accused along with co-counsel Jordan Watt his son, said Weisbrodt admitted taking a 12-guage shotgun to the scene of the murder, but didn’t pull the trigger. It’s believed the victim owed money to some dealers involved in a grow-op, but they were not identified and the person that actually shot Harvey was never caught, Watt said.
In sentencing the accused, Justice Leask ordered Weisbrodt’s parole eligibility would not occur until he served the first 10 years of his life sentence. He is also to provide police with a DNA sample and is prohibited from possessing any firearms for 10 years after his release.
About a dozen people were in the courtroom when Weisbrodt was sentenced including several jurors that heard the first part of his trial. Asked if he had anything to say before he was sentenced, Weisbrodt replied he didn’t.
Justice Leask praised both defence and Crown for the way they conducted the trial. “Both teams of counsel did an excellent job and I appreciate that.”
Prosecutors Andrew Mayes and Lynal Doerksen conducted the trial for the Crown.
