Justice William Goodridge spoke directly to Jason Earl Marsh from the bench in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Friday morning, making sure he understood what was about to happen.
“We value lives in our society, yours included,” Goodridge told Marsh, explaining that the jail sentence he was about to bring down was going to be heavy. “We need to send a message that this is terrible, what you’ve done. We need to deter you and others who want to do it again.”
Marsh had pleaded guilty to 12 charges: two counts each of aggravated assault and possessing a prohibited weapon, along with charges of assault with a weapon, discharging a firearm with intent to harm, other weapons charges and a breach of a court order.
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Goodridge told Marsh two men were seriously injured and could have died after he shot them in two separate incidents in 2013. One of the men had been hit by at least three bullets through the window of his front door, Goodridge said, while the other still has shotgun pellets in his body.
“There’s not a lot of good I can say,” Goodridge said about Marsh’s situation, though he did note the 39-year-old had acknowledged the seriousness of what he did, has shown remorse and has been actively working to improve himself in the 3 ½ years he has been in custody.
Goodridge said he accepted the apology Marsh had made to the victims, their families and his own family in court earlier this week as sincere, noting Marsh had backed up his words with actions inside the penitentiary.
Goodridge noted Marsh’s background — having been sexually abused as a small child and taken from his mother for eight years, eventually living on the streets of Toronto — but told him, “That was a long time ago. It doesn’t excuse what you did.”
The judge also referred to Marsh’s extensive criminal record, his disregard for human life and the fact the shootings took place in densely populated residential neighbourhoods.
Goodridge sentenced Marsh to 12 years behind bars. With credit given for the time he has been on remand, he has just less than seven years left to serve.
He also banned Marsh from possessing weapons for life, and made it particularly clear this included all weapons, not just firearms.
Additionally, Goodridge ordered Marsh to have no contact with the victims or their families, as well as with Christopher Shaw, who had originally been charged along with him.
“He’s obviously been a close friend of yours, but it’s not a good friendship,” Goodridge said. “If you’re going down this road of rehabilitation, it’s better if you part ways.”
The shootings took place within two months of each other in the St. John’s area. The first happened on Sept. 9, 2013, when Marsh and two other men went to a house on Boyle Street, looking to be paid for a drug deal. The person they were looking for had moved, and the man living in the home assumed the men were burglars and released his pit bull on them. The men ran, but Marsh turned around and shot the man with a sawed-off shotgun, injuring his face, neck and torso and damaging neighbourhood cars and homes.
In the early evening of Nov. 11, 2013, Marsh went to a house on Williams Heights and shot a man three times through the front door window with a .22-calibre gun. Marsh was seeking revenge for the man’s alleged role in supplying hard drugs to an underage girl, the court heard.
Marsh and Shaw were arrested and charged with attempted murder as the result of a police sting. An Ontario police officer posed as an inmate in a cell adjacent to Marsh at the lockup, after Marsh was picked up on a charge of breaching court orders from an unrelated matter. The officer was able to get information about the shootings and a connection to Shaw from Marsh.
Undercover officers asked Shaw to get them a gun. Believing he was dealing with members of the Hells Angels, Shaw got them a .357 magnum and 40 rounds of ammunition.
The more serious charges against Shaw were dismissed after Marsh took full responsibility for the shootings and said he had acted alone.
Shaw, 34, pleaded guilty to trafficking in a restricted weapon, breaching a court order banning him from having a prohibited weapon, not having a licence for the gun and not having it stored properly. He was sentenced in August to 3 ½ years behind bars.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
