Convicted killer Tam Le has upgraded his education, put in 1,800 hours toward a carpentry apprenticeship and taken advantage of every rehabilitative program prison has to offer during his more than 15 years behind bars, a jury has been told.
But on Wednesday, a prosecutor urged jurors not to be swayed by Le’s efforts, arguing they are part of a calculated plan to gain early release from prison, and not evidence he is a “changed man.”
Le, 48, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2005 killing of Miguel Munoz and was sentenced four years later to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Le is asking a jury to allow him to apply for early parole under the “faint hope” clause. The Criminal Code provision allows prisoners who have been sentenced to life for first-degree murder to ask a jury that they be allowed to apply for parole after serving only 15 years.
“The question you need to ask yourself: is Mr. Le genuinely remorseful or is he just wanting his application to be successful,” Crown attorney Carrie Ritchot said in a closing argument.
Before killing Munoz, Le was sentenced in 2001 to four years in prison for drug trafficking. Le served just nine months and was released on parole, earning positive reports from corrections officials and his halfway house before returning to a life of crime, Ritchot said.
At the time Le shot and killed Munoz outside a Pembina Highway nightclub, he was on bail for break and enter and possession of cocaine.
“He said and did all the right things, but he didn’t change,” Ritchot said. “We all know how well he behaves in custody. We also know how well he behaves on parole.”
Jurors were told Le had been called to pick up his then-girlfriend’s sister — whom he had also been seeing romantically — at Monty’s nightclub on Pembina Highway, June 15, 2005, and was trying to separate a group of women who were fighting when he and Munoz, 28, “scuffled and exchanged words.”
The men were separated by bar security, but continued to argue.
Witnesses said Le left the bar and crossed the road toward a pharmacy parking lot, gesturing at Munoz to follow him. Munoz removed his shirt and advanced on Le before Le pulled out a handgun and shot him four times at close range — once in the head, twice in the chest and once in the arm.
Le, his girlfriend’s sister and another woman got into his truck and drove to his girlfriend’s Southlawn Stroll home, where Le buried the gun under a rock.
Le woke up his girlfriend and young child and drove in another vehicle to his parents’ home.
He was arrested that day and denied any involvement in the killing. Jurors were told Le convinced his girlfriend and sister to provide police with a false alibi, claiming his truck had been in his sister’s possession at the time of the killing.
At trial, Le testified he had driven to the nightclub, but turned back after seeing police, fearing he would be arrested for breaching his parole.
Le “manipulated the system” and “lied over and over again” at trial, Ritchot said.
“Mr. Le says he is a changed man. Why should we believe him this time?”
Corrections officials and others, including a retired prison chaplain testified to the changes they saw in Le over the years, his remorse for killing Munoz and his involvement in many programs and initiatives to better the lives of his fellow inmates.
“The Crown says he is pulling the wool over the eyes of trained Corrections Services of Canada staff for over 15 years and he is pulling the wool over your eyes,” defence lawyer Ryan Amy told jurors. “This is simply not true.”
Le wanted to change and sought help at every opportunity, Amy said.
“Remember, there are those who sleep their days away (in custody), with no effort to better themselves,” he said.
Le “is not someone who sleeps his days away… It is all about becoming a better person and Mr. Le has become a better person. He has gone above and beyond what was expected of him.”
The jury is expected to begin deliberations today after receiving final instructions from King’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.