deadmonton 2004 - glynnis lee hall
Glynnis Lee Hall, 40, was stabed to death October 31st, 2004.
Stacie Lee Willier, 29, was charged with second-degree murder and possession of a dangerous weapon.
Note: the following re-construction of events is based on published media reports as well as the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta decision.
A Halloween drinking party and an argument over a cellphone led to the stabbing death of a woman.
At 10:30 in the evening of October 31st, 2004 police received a call from a man reporting that a woman had been stabbed. She was rushed to hospital but died the next day.
Police had trouble identifying the woman because she had more than 15 aliases in her police files, including Valerie Lynn Cardinal and Stephanie Pompana.
The victim was eventually identified as Glynnis Lee Hall (left) after police released photographs of her. The Manitoba woman's identity was confirmed by a tip from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, located just west of Brandon, Manitoba.
Hall died from four stab wounds to the stomach.
The trouble started earlier in the day at the home of Peter Sawatsky, 61, a basement suite at 10885 98 Street. He began a day of drinking with Bailey's (it was easy on his stomach) before switching to whiskey, rum and maybe some vodka.
Glynnis Hall, who Sawatsky knew as Stephanie, came by his suite in the afternoon. She said she wasn't feeling well so he let her stay in his bedroom where she passed out.
Later in the day, Sawatsky was also joined by Stacie Lee Willier. Willier brought over two of her young daughters so they could show off their Halloween costumes. Willier soon started drinking with Sawatsky.
At some point, Willier borrowed Sawatsky's cellphone and left his suite with it.
When Sawatsky realised his cellphone was missing, he went across the street to where Willier's mother, Brenda, lived. When he asked her about his cellphone, Brenda said she didn't have it and he returned home.
During the evening, Willier visited the apartment of Brian Enright. There she showed him two knives that she had taken from her mother's kitchen.
Willier later returned to Sawatsky's suite and threw his phone at him. She was angry that he had gone over to her mother's place to harrass her. She also accused him of having "some other hooker" at his place.
"I saw something in her hand, something long," Sawatsky told the court. "Coulda been a knife."
Feeling threatened, Sawatsky testified he walked outside and soon heard the sound of two female voices yelling coming from the suite.
"I looked through the window and seen Stephanie laying there."
Hall was foaming at the mouth, not moving, said Sawatsky. He ran to a nearby Mowhawk gas station and called 911.
Willier returned to Enright's apartment at 2 a.m. the next morning saying she had stabbed someone and "that girl died."
"She said 'I've never seen a girl die'," said Enright in court.
"She was in shock, I could tell, and she had her head down."
Enright also told court he believed Willier was drunk.
Enright said Willier spent the night on his couch and in the morning they watched news reports of the killing on television. Willier hung her head and said she would turn herself in to police.
After saying goodbye to her three children, Stacie Willier turned herself over to a police detective at her mother's apartment later in the morning of November 1st.
On February 27th, 2006 Stacie Lee Willier pleaded not guilty in Court of Queen's Bench to charges of second-degree murder and possession of a dangerous weapon.
"The guy lost his cellphone and I got accused of having it. My daughter went across to stick up for me and that woman stepped up and they went at it," Brenda Willier told the court in the judge-alone trial.
The hearing also heard at times conflicting testimony from witnesses, all of whom had been drinking heavily on the day of the murder.
On March 15th, Justice Andrea Moen found Stacie Willier guilty of second degree murder. She rejected the defence argument that Willier was too drunk to form the intent to murder Hall. Moen stayed the charge of possession of a dangerous weapon.
Moen accepted that Willier was intoxicated, but had little evidence as to how much she drank.
Moen also ruled Willier did not intend to kill Hall, but did form the necessary intent to commit murder because she was upset, meant to cause the victim harm and knew that stabbing her would likely cause her death.
Willier was automatically sentenced to life in prison. She will be able to apply for parole after a minimum period of 10 years.
When the judge announced her decision, it appeared as if Willier didn't understand. She looked to her family, screamed "Second? ... No!" dropped to her knees on the floor, sobbing, "My kids, my kids."
After nearly 10 minutes of heart-wrenching bawling, constables were forced to carry Willier away.