Philip Pynn apologizes to clergy, sentenced for HMP chapel riot
Philip Pynn, the St. John's man serving a federal sentence for shooting his best friend, apologized to the Salvation Army clergy present at Her Majesty's Penitentiary the day of the chapel riot attack.
Pynn, 29, was the last member of a group of inmates to be sentenced after a February 2014 riot and attack on killer Kenny Green at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest jail.
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Appearing via video from the Atlantic Institution in Renous, Pynn apologized to the clergy members who had their Sunday chapel service interrupted by the bloody riot and assault.
No clergy members were injured.
"When this event occurred, I think he was at the lowest point in his life because he had not dealt with his murder file yet," said Pynn's lawyer Mark Gruchy who also defended Pynn during his second-degree murder trial last fall.
"I believe he expected to lose his murder trial [and be] sentenced to life imprisonment and it didn't happen."
Pynn was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison in February after a 12-person jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter
His best friend, Nick Winsor, was shot and killed accidentally by Pynn inside a garage on Portugal Cove Road in St. John's in 2011.
Gruchy suspects Pynn will be released from federal prison sometime in 2017-18, adding his client intends on becoming a better person.
"Mr. Pynn is also intelligent and he's realistic. I don't think he expects society to rapidly change its perception of him," Gruchy said.
"I think he realizes it needs to come from within himself and I think he's going to sincerely try."
Gruchy said Pynn doesn't plead not guilty to crimes that he has done, and that his apology to the clergy was sincere.
"He tends to plead guilty to the things that he did," he said.
"So, if Mr. Pynn is pleading not guilty it's because he feels strongly about something and wants to prove that."
For both the riot and assault, Pynn will have another 14 months tacked on to his sentence.