Cory Murdock Scribe, who has two manslaughter convictions under his belt, including the unprovoked killing of his friend, and has been diagnosed as a psychopath, might be considered a poster boy for the dangerous offender designation.
A Manitoba judge slapped the 36-year-old with the title after determining he’ll likely never be able to control his aggression outside prison walls.
“I cannot say that there is a reasonable expectation that Mr. Scribe’s violent tendencies can be eventually controlled in the community,” said Court of King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond in a written decision.
The judge also gave him an indeterminate sentence behind bars in April, before issuing the legal reasons for her decision this month, for the 2019 killing of his longtime buddy in Norway House First Nation. He’s unlikely to get out of prison.
A psychiatrist who assessed Scribe diagnosed him as a psychopath.
In 2010, he pleaded guilty to his first manslaughter for participating in the 2007 group beating of a stranger, 35-year-old Erin Pawlowski, who had got off a bus at Selkirk Avenue and Powers Street in Winnipeg after a night shift at a manufacturing plant.
In October 2019, Scribe and his friend Jonathan Hart, 27, went to a number of parties on the First Nation. The next morning, in a wooded area of Norway House, the pals exchanged words, before Scribe slipped and hit his head, causing Hart to mock him. Scribe punched Hart in the neck, causing his head to rotate and damage an artery next to his spine, killing him, said Grammond.
Scribe had been released from custody for a domestic assault just weeks earlier. He pleaded guilty to Hart’s manslaughter in June 2021.
Crown prosecutors Monique Cam and Inderjit Singh had sought the dangerous offender designation and an indeterminate sentence, while Scribe’s lawyers, Crystal Antila and Candace Olson, asked for a 10-year sentence less time served, plus a 10-year supervision order.
Prosecutors argued, and the defence acknowledged, that Scribe’s pattern of behaviour demonstrates a failure to restrain himself and that he is likely to cause death or injury to others, or harm them psychologically, as a result. He appears indifferent to the consequences of his behaviour, the Crown argued.
The sentence sought by the defence would “not adequately protect the public against the commission by the offender of murder or a serious personal injury offence,” the judge ruled.
Although Scribe will be be eligible to apply for parole after serving seven years, in October 2026 — his time in custody since his arrest counts toward his parole eligibility — corrections officials told court the release of a designated dangerous offender is exceedingly rare.
Scribe will be held in prison until — and if — he completes major programming, internalizes it, and demonstrates that progress over the long term, Grammond noted. To date, he has maintained short-term commitments to improving, a psychiatrist concluded.
“It is unlikely that he will be treated successfully within the next few years, if ever,” said Grammond.
If he is released, he would be monitored by justice officials for the rest of his life. Scribe is not eligible for statutory release, which allows most federal inmates out on conditions after two-thirds of their sentence.
Scribe has 13 convictions for offences involving violence, threats, and weapons, as well as an extensive record for violence in correctional institutions.
He has been diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, which requires a pervasive pattern of disregard for and the violation of the rights of others, as well as borderline personality disorder, among other mental health problems such as substance use disorders.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
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