Judge considers 'follower' role in sentencing for 2015 Edmonton murder
An Edmonton judge has sentenced Sophie Frenchman to an automatic life sentence, with parole eligibility in 10 years, in the second-degree murder of Andrea Marie Berg.
Frenchman's trial wrapped up in April 2018, and she was subsequently convicted of second-degree murder.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Little delivered his sentencing decision on Sept. 21.
The Crown had asked for a 15-year period of parole ineligibility, said Rob Wachowich, Frenchman's defence lawyer.
He argued Frenchman, 51, was a follower and not the leader in the murder — something the judge took into consideration, Wachowich said Monday.
During the trial, court heard that the 42-year-old Berg was repeatedly punched, slapped and kicked before she was killed on June 15, 2015.
Berg was eventually strangled and left for dead on a bedroom floor in a central Edmonton apartment. Hours later, a male friend of the attackers wrapped Berg's body in duct tape and threw her out a third-storey window.
John Kisil loaded the body, wrapped in garbage bags, into a shopping cart and abandoned the cart in a driveway a few blocks away.
Kisil is serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact to murder.
Lana Pelletier has already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years. She was the Crown's star witness at the trial of Frenchman.
The judge cited a Gladue report in his decision on parole eligibility, said Wachowich. The report is prepared to determine if an Indigenous offender's background has contributed to them coming before the court.
It states Frenchman's mother died when she was 13 years old. As a teenager, she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a family member over a period of years.
A victim impact statement from Berg's mother, Joanne Berg was also considered in the decision, Wachowich said.
The "brutal murder" still troubles her and is a "tragedy that has been life-changing," Berg said in her statement.
"What could any human being ever do to deserve such a death?" she wrote.
In the statement, the mother writes she will always miss her daughter. "She was my first born and when I think about her I can still see her singing, dancing, laughing and sometimes just acting silly."
