Kenny Green sentence recommendation shocks victim's family
Caution: This report contains language that may offend some readers
The family of a man who died at the hands of Kenny Green in a St. John's drughouse last year reacted in horror when they learned how long Green is likely to spend in prison.
Green, 35, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manslaughter in the death of Whalen, 47, in a controversial house on Tessier Place in St. John's in March 2013.
Whalen died several days later in hospital.
Brittany Hammond, 20, Joey Whalen's daughter, said the recommended sentence was "absolutely ridiculous."
"For a prosecutor to stand up there and basically do the defence attorney's job and to basically give them the win — I mean, my father laid there for four days and they're standing there like Kenny's the victim. How is he the victim?" she said.
During a sentencing hearing, Crown prosecutor Sheldon Steeves said Green could have argued self defence if the case had gone to trial. Instead, Green settled for a negotiated outcome.
I hate Kenny Green, and you know what, I wouldn't even kill him that way, and I think if anybody has the right to hate him it would be [my] family and nobody would do that to him.- Brittany Hammond, daughter of Joey Whalen
That agreement between the Crown and defence clearly angered Whalen's family.
"I hate Kenny Green, and you know what, I wouldn't even kill him that way, and I think if anybody has the right to hate him it would be [my] family and nobody would do that to him," she said.
Hammond said watching her father in hospital the days before he died was something she'll never be able to forget.
"To me, he was Superman, and that was the worst. He was my father, I looked up to him and to see him lying there like somebody just left him on the floor, he didn't mean anything to anybody, it's just … nobody deserves that," she said.
"I don't think any sentence would have been good enough, but any one better than this sentence would have been better. I mean, he's gonna walk out of there what, after two years I'll be passing him on the street. 'Oh, there goes the guy who killed my father, yeah, he's just going to the store.'"
Victim being ignored
The court was told Green's credit for time served would amount to one year and seven months off his six-year sentence, suggested by the Crown and defence.
"The system never worked very good to begin with, not for the victim, but this has got to be one of the worst cases of the victim being totally ignored — totally. Does anybody even remember who the victim was here?" said Hammond.
"The man was beaten to death, OK? It wasn't one smack, it wasn't two, and it wasn't even a few, as Mr. Green would say, it was quite a God damn lot."
Hammond said she believes Green is getting away with murder.
"When someone is beaten to the point that they die, obviously there's a lot of impact that goes on to the body, and considering that Joey was really only beaten from the head up, there was time went into it — and he even paused to cut him up a bit. So seriously, this is all just a crock of bullshit," he said.
The court heard earlier this week that Green had been selling cocaine on Tessier Place, a cul-de-sac in downtown St. John's, where residents had long complained about disruptive activity at the house Green was using.
An agreed statement of facts revealed that Whalen had been selling cocaine for Green, and was also using drugs himself.
Believing that Whalen was going to rip him off, Green attacked Whalen with his fists.
Judge William Goodridge will say next Friday if he will accept the joint sentence recommendation.