2 violent inmates sentenced to 4 months for assaulting Dennis Oland in prison
Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon | CBC News | Posted: November 23, 2017 4:36 PM | Last Updated: November 23, 2017
Cody Muise and Aaron Marriott punched, kicked Oland at Atlantic Institution on July 31, 2016
Two violent inmates from Halifax have each been sentenced to four months for punching and kicking Dennis Oland at a New Brunswick prison after he was convicted of killing his father, Saint John multimillionaire Richard Oland.
Convicted murderer Cody Alexander Muise, 28, and Aaron Marriott, 27, serving time for attempted murder, were sentenced in Miramichi provincial court on Thursday afternoon via video conference from Atlantic Institution in Renous.
They both previously pleaded guilty to assaulting Dennis Oland at the maximum security prison on July 31, 2016.
The attack in the visitors room was captured on video, but it will not be made public because it was not entered into evidence because of the guilty pleas, Crown prosecutor Justin Hébert told CBC News.
Muise and Marriott punched and kicked Oland, knocked him to the floor and continued to punch and kick him until his visitors and guards intervened, the court previously heard.
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Oland, 49, suffered injuries to his face and was treated at the prison. The severity of his injuries has not been disclosed.
Oland, who was released last fall after his second-degree murder conviction was overturned and is facing a retrial next year, declined to provide a victim impact statement, Hébert said.
Oland family lawyer Bill Teed declined to comment on Thursday.
Hébert told the courtroom the facts of the case are straightforward and he did not go over the details again.
He and acting duty counsel Simon Wood jointly recommended four-month sentences for both Muise and Marriott.
Motive unknown
Judge Natalie LeBlanc followed the joint recommendation, saying the sentences will be served concurrently with the sentences they are already serving.
"Although this is an assault of another inmate, all assaults are assault and it is a criminal charge and will have sanctions," LeBlanc said.
"In order for our institutions to work properly, inmates must obey and follow all of the rules in relation to the peace officers, but also in relation to one another."
She also ordered them to each pay a $200 victim fine surcharge.
Muise and Marriott both thanked the judge but had nothing else to say.
They both changed their pleas to guilty on Sept. 25, the day their trial was set to begin.
No motive has been disclosed.
Gun battle
Muise is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder after being convicted in the 2010 shooting death of Brandon Hatcher.
Hatcher was killed in front of his Spryfield home in a gun battle with Muise and two other men.
The pair had exchanged threatening texts and phone calls earlier in the day and Muise believed Hatcher had made two previous attempts on his life, the trial heard.
Muise failed in his attempt to get his conviction overturned by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 2015.
IWK shooting
Marriott is serving a 15-year sentence for attempted murder in connection with a shooting outside a children's hospital in Halifax eight years ago.
He was 18 years old when he shot and injured Jason Hallett outside the IWK Health Centre on Nov. 18, 2008. He fired several shots at close range from a handgun into a Jeep Cherokee, the trial heard. Hallett was wounded in the wrist.
Marriott pleaded guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison with no credit for the 29 months he spent in pre-trial custody, based on a joint recommendation by the Crown and defence.
Some of his co-accused received sentences of between five and 10 years.
Marriott unsuccessfully appealed his sentence to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 2012 and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his appeal in 2015.
Retrial Oct. 10
Oland served about 10 months in prison after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the 2011 bludgeoning of his father.
He had been sentenced to life, with no chance of parole for at least 10 years, but was released on bail in October last year after the Court of Appeal overturned his murder conviction and ordered a retrial.
Oland's new trial is set to begin Oct. 10, 2018.
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The body of Richard Oland, 69, was discovered lying face down in a pool of blood in his Saint John investment firm office on July 7, 2011.
The businessman had suffered 45 blows to his head, neck and hands.
His son was the last known person to see him alive, during a visit at his office the night before. Oland's family has stood by him from the beginning, maintaining his innocence.