Siksika man who drove over boyfriend gets 6 years in prison for manslaughter
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: September 5, 2017 6:39 PM | Last Updated: September 5, 2017
Jody Wright pleaded guilty to killing Troy Young earlier this year
A Siksika man who drove over his on-again, off-again boyfriend during a fight when the pair were drunk and high on crystal meth has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Jody Shane Wright, 44, had been chasing Troy Young — who was on foot — in his truck near the Alberta home the two men shared on the Siksika First Nation east of Calgary.
Court heard he accidentally ran the 23-year-old over in April 2014 and then tied Young's body to the back of the Ford F250 with an extension cord before dragging the dying man to a wooded area about two kilometres from their house.
"The actions of the offender were not impulsive. They continued on for a considerable period of time and over a considerable distance," said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Robert Hall in handing down the sentence.
Wright pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January.
The day after Young was killed, Wright called RCMP to report his crime, and led officers to the body.
Prosecutors Doug Simpson and Dane Rolfe had proposed a 10-year sentence while defence lawyer Gloria Froese had asked for time served, which amounted to about four-and-a-half years.
Wright told investigators that he and Young got in a fight in the truck outside their house. Wright said he was punched in the face by Young.
Eventually Wright began chasing his partner in the truck, driving in a "zigzag pattern" around the yard, through a field and in a ditch.
Wright then drove at his boyfriend in an effort to "scare him" but he ran over Young.
Hall said Wright is a high risk to reoffend in an intimate relationship.