Cheers and tears after Supreme Court upholds murder convictions of Calgary couple who beat girl to death
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: November 26, 2017 10:08 PM | Last Updated: November 28, 2017
Warning: This story contains disturbing details
In a decision delivered after just a few minutes of deliberations, the Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the first-degree murder convictions of Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon, a Calgary couple who spent a weekend beating Jordan's six-year-old daughter, Meika Jordan, to death in 2011.
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said the words "appeals dismissed," and then Meika's mother and stepfather, who fundraised to travel to Ottawa for Monday's hearing, wept in the courtroom.
"One of the best things I've ever heard in my life," said Kyla Woodhouse.
"Those two little words have just made everything for us."
More than two dozen members of the Ottawa and Montreal chapters of Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) also showed up in support of the Woodhouses, and erupted in cheers as the Woodhouses — who are members of the Calgary chapter — walked out of the courtroom.
"Vindicated," said Brian Woodhouse when asked how he and his wife were feeling after the decision. "It's finally over."
Jordan and Magoon, who was Meika's stepmother, were originally convicted of second-degree murder, but their convictions were elevated to first-degree murder by the Alberta Court of Appeal in December 2016.
The couple's lawyers had argued their first-degree murder convictions should be overturned because the Alberta Court of Appeal erred in elevating the verdicts.
For Meika Jordan, the weekend of Nov. 11, 2011, began with her stepmother, Magoon, holding a lighter under the child's palm.
To hide the burn from Meika's mother, Jordan and Magoon did not return the child as per their custody arrangement. Instead, over the next few days, the violence intensified; she was punched and tripped, and had her head slammed off a tile floor.
Meika was also dragged up and down the stairs by her hair and forced to run the stairs as a punishment.
The Alberta Court of Appeal found the child was forcibly confined, which elevated the convictions to first-degree murder.
Running the stairs was the "hallmark of this confinement," says appellate prosecutor Christine Rideout in her submissions.
Rideout successfully argued that the trial judge used too narrow a definition of confinement in the case of children and improperly applied the legal test for forcible confinement.
Early Crown victory
In his arguments, Miller asked if a first-degree murder conviction would be the result every time a child was fatally assaulted by a parent based on the nature of that relationship.
"Maybe, I don't see what's wrong with that, actually," replied Justice Russell Brown.
The full panel of Supreme Court judges heard the case.
The prosecution had an early victory at Canada's top court; after brief submissions from all parties, the judges granted the Crown's motion to strike much of what can be argued.
The only issue Magoon's and Jordan's lawyers were then permitted to address was whether the Alberta Court of Appeal improperly substituted a verdict of first-degree murder following a conviction of second-degree murder at trial.
Defence lawyers had wanted to argue for a manslaughter conviction, a new trial or outright acquittal (for Magoon).
Operation Safe and Sound in Heaven
On Nov. 13, 2011, Jordan called 911 to report Meika had fallen down the stairs. Paramedics arrived and found her unconscious and in respiratory arrest. She died in hospital the next day.
Meika died from blunt force trauma to her head and internal injuries to her pancreas and liver.
The police investigation was dubbed Operation SASH (Safe and Sound in Heaven) and involved 158 police officers.
More than a year after the child's death, Magoon and Jordan were charged with first-degree murder.
A judge found the couple guilty of second-degree murder.
But in December 2016, the Alberta Court of Appeal elevated the conviction to first-degree murder.
Mr. Big operation
During a Mr. Big sting, police pose as criminals, creating elaborate scenarios which aim to draw the suspects into a criminal life.
In the case of Magoon and Jordan, the couple was living in a van when police began the Mr. Big operation in February 2012. From February to October, when the operation ended, officers ran 106 scenarios designed to convince Magoon and Jordan they were part of a criminal organization.
Police also intercepted 17,534 private communications between the couple.
Undercover officers set the couple up in a rental property at a massive discount. The detached garage on the property was occupied by undercover officers pretending to run a criminal business involving credit card skimming, fraud and drug trafficking.
Magoon and Jordan both developed friendships with the officers and Jordan was paid $15,000 with the promise of more as his work with the group continued.
When the couple was told Jordan's arrest was imminent, they turned to their new criminal friends for help. That's when they began to admit what they'd done to Meika.
'Unimaginable cruelty'
Prosecutors Christine Rideout and Andrew Barg argued the Alberta Court of Appeal properly applied the test for unlawful confinement in finding the couple guilty of first-degree murder.
"In an act of unimaginable cruelty, [Magoon] physically restrained six-year-old Meika Jordan and held her hand over an open flame while Meika screamed, kicked and eventually urinated," the documents say.
"This burn signalled the start of Meika's confinement by her 'caregivers.' In the days that followed, Meika was kept from her mother and subjected to repetitive acts of domination enforced by violence. These acts culminated in her murder."
The Calgary Police Service sent homicide Det. Mike Cavilla — who led the initial murder investigation — to Ottawa.
In an interview with CBC News Monday afternoon, Insp. Paul Wozney said the service is pleased with the Supreme Court's decision which "validates all of the work that went into this investigation." Wozney said both CPS and the Crown's office put "hundreds and hundreds" of hours into this case.
Despite the precedent setting nature of the decision, Wozney says today's decision doesn't change the way police and prosecutors will lay charges.
"It makes no difference to us whether it's family members involved, neighbours, a stranger, that means nothing to us.
What matters to us is to find the truth of what happened in an event, in a murder in this particular case, and to bring those people to justice."
Defence lawyers Bates and Nicole Rodych represented Magoon, while Brendan Miller and Jeinis Patel appeared for Jordan.
The panel will release its reasons in the coming months.
A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
CBC News reporter Meghan Grant tweeted from the courtroom: