Dangerous offender imprisoned indefinitely after manslaughter, chokings

A man who brutally beat someone to death in 2021 has been declared a dangerous offender and sentenced to prison indefinitely.

The orders against William Douglas Brown, 41, were made in Ottawa's Superior Court on Thursday for the manslaughter of Mikael Arjani, 34, and in light of Brown's violent criminal past over many years.

Under the Criminal Code, dangerous offenders are found to have threatened the life or safety of other people by failing to restrain themselves, committing patterns of aggressive behaviour with substantial indifference to the consequences, and by acting with brutality. They can be sentenced indefinitely unless the court finds that a lesser sentence would protect the public.

Brown's criminal record includes five separate convictions for seriously choking women and men, according to documents filed in court by the Crown to support its dangerous offender application.

The latest choking, committed at "random" in April 2021 — just three weeks before the manslaughter — caused the female victim to become unconscious and incontinent, one Crown document reads.

Brown then threatened to kill her if she told police.

Crown also wants dangerous offender status in choking

He was convicted of assault causing bodily harm, choking and uttering death threats by Ontario Court Justice Célynne Dorval. Sentencing has not yet taken place.

The Crown is seeking to have Brown declared a dangerous offender for the choking on top of its successful dangerous offender bid for the manslaughter conviction. That three-week hearing is scheduled to begin later this month.

Brown's defence lawyer Michael Smith said he's never seen the Crown seek two dangerous offender designations for the same offender, though he added that doesn't mean it's never happened.

"One would have to think about the resources and the benefit of going through another one of these hearings ... with a different judge," Smith said in an interview Monday.

2 partners also choked

Brown had previously choked two other women, both romantic partners. One victim was pulled off the ground by the force of the choking in 2012, and the other woman was also beaten in 2014, according to Crown documents.

He has also been convicted of assaults, other assaults causing bodily harm and aggravated assaults, as well as possessing weapons, a restricted weapon and a loaded prohibited weapon.

As for the manslaughter, Brown had thought Arjani was "a rat," Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean summarized in court last week.

And so, in a drug house on Carillon Street in Vanier on May 4, 2021, Brown beat Arjani severely, including with a metal table frame, then threw him off the back steps and into a driveway. Arjani was later found in the driveway and died of his injuries a month later.

Hoped to start food truck one day

Smith conceded the attack on Arjani was brutal and that Brown met the criteria to be declared a dangerous offender. But he'd argued for a determinate sentence of eight to 10 years for Brown, to be followed by a long-term supervision order.

Brown testified "quite eloquently" about wanting to start a food truck and to play a bigger role in the lives of his approximately 20 children, some of whom he's in touch with, McLean told court. Brown also said he realizes the negative impacts of his behaviour on his family and himself, and that he's tired of the life he's been living.

In the end, however, McLean wasn't convinced of Brown's prospects, or that his word can be trusted.

The judge pointed out that Brown had earlier completed penitentiary rehabilitation programs as well as a follow-up program after his release, but that Brown still went on to violate his parole, then commit the manslaughter and three recent assaults while he was in jail. (Brown's defence had argued the assaults were part of life in custody.)

A 'heavy, heavy [sentence]'

An indefinite sentence is a "heavy, heavy thing," Smith said.

He noted that a witness from the correctional system testified at trial that, on average, 17.5 years passes before dangerous offenders are released back into the community.

Giving up on treating Brown isn't the correct thing to do, in Smith's view.

For the choking, for which Brown hasn't yet been sentenced, Smith is hoping to have time to present an enhanced pre-sentence report on Brown's background as a racialized man, which Smith hopes will resonate with that judge.

Brown has filed a notice of appeal for his manslaughter conviction and sentence. Whether he will follow through has not been decided, Smith said.