Alberta man who killed 3 near Edson sentenced to life without parole for 30 years

Mickell Bailey, convicted of murder in the 2015 shotgun deaths of Roxanne Berube, Daniel Miller and Jazmine Lyon at a rural home near Edson, Alta., will serve life in prison with no chance of parole for 30 years.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman sentenced Bailey, 21, on Thursday.

He will serve concurrent life sentences with no chance of parole for 15 years for the killings of Berube and Miller.

That will be followed by serving at least another 15 years for the killing of Lyon.

Lyon was Bailey's 16-year-old cousin. Berube was his aunt, and Miller was Berube's common-law partner.

Sanderman told court the crime was "an incomprehensible act of violence" followed by "unbelievably callous conduct" when Bailey described the killing of his cousin to his friends.

"Maybe you are indeed a dangerous person who needs to be separated for a considerable length of time to give us the protection we need," Sanderman told Bailey.

Even though it was requested by the Crown, Bailey refused to submit to a psychological or psychiatric assessment. So no one, including Bailey's own lawyer, knows what motivated him to commit the killings.

"I don't know how dangerous you are. I really don't," Sanderman told Bailey. "Your violent, senseless, horrific act has broken two extended families."

Outside court Thursday, prosecutor Orest Yereniuk said the decision made it "a good day for justice in Alberta." He called it a fair, succinct and well-reasoned sentence.

Yereniuk had proposed a much higher period of parole ineligibility of 36 to 44 years. Defence lawyer Nate Whitling urged the judge to settle on a range of 18 to 22 years.

Outside court, Whitling said no decision has been made on whether to appeal the convictions or sentence. He noted the court heard 10 victim impact statements, earlier in the day.

"Well this was a terrible case of course," said Whitling. "There was a terrible loss of life. We heard some very moving presentations by the friends and family members who were affected today. Justice Sanderman certainly gave this case very careful consideration."

'But it will never bring back our loved ones'

For nearly an hour Thursday morning, the judge listened to family members of the victims detail the toll the murders have had on their lives.

Berube's sister Tammy Goodale said she suffers from survivor's guilt because she had been invited to her sister's home the night of the murders, but was unable to make it.

"I was the big sister and big sisters are supposed to protect little sisters," Goodale said through tears

Then she turned her attention to Bailey in the prisoner's box with a question.

"Why would you do such a selfish thing?" she asked. "What you are putting us through is cruel, heinous. You deserve your sentence, but it will never bring back our loved ones."

She was unable to forgive him, she told Bailey.

Daniel Miller's brother David said he lost his best friend, has lost his trust in people and now always sleeps with one eye open.

"My heart is still broken," he wrote. "It's unbelievable he was taken in such a cold, horrific manner. What kind of world are we living in?"

Bailey was found guilty in April of three counts of second-degree murder.

He had initially been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Nov. 28, 2015 deaths.

Bailey used a sawed off shotgun to kill his victims.

At trial, a Crown prosecutor said he planned to kill his victims and steal property from them. His take was a small amount of cash, a flat-screen TV and some guns, court heard.

"The evidence showing that Mr. Bailey shot these three people is overwhelming," Sanderman said in April, when he convicted Bailey of the crimes.

"These are violent, sudden deaths as the result of a discharge from a shotgun at extremely close range."

After the murders, described by the prosecutor as "clinical," Bailey ordered pizza and pop with his friends and bragged about the killings, court was told.