Prosecutors are seeking a 13-year prison sentence for a man who admits stabbing another man to death during a melee outside a strip club beer vendor.
Cecil Vance Roulette, 39, stood trial last fall for second-degree murder in the September 2022 death of Enrique George Courchene, but was found guilty by a jury of the lesser offence of manslaughter.
Two co-accused — Jade Allen Dumas and Calvin Harvey Maytwayashing — stood trial on the same charge and were acquitted.
Much of the evidence against the three accused hinged on security video capturing the killing outside the Lipstixx strip club beer vendor on Arlington Avenue.
Prosecutors had argued Courchene was stabbed after coming to the aid of his brother, who was involved in an unprovoked dispute with the three accused.
“This was closer to murder than an accident,” Crown attorney Julia Negrea told King’s Bench Justice Gerald Chartier at a sentencing hearing Thursday.
Security video showed Courchene, 29, arriving at the vendor with his brother Ernesto Courchene around 1:10 a.m., the same time as the three accused.
The two groups appeared to be getting along, even laughing together, but when Ernesto and the three accused proceeded outside the mood changed, Negrea said.
“Then, for no visible reason (Dumas) punched Ernesto in the face, knocking him to the ground,” she said. The security video shows Roulette stepping in and “escalating” the dispute by pulling out a knife and cutting a chain from Ernesto’s neck.
That’s when Enrique ran to his brother’s aid and wrestled Roulette to the ground. Roulette turned his knife on Enrique, stabbing him seven times in the chest.
The two groups separated and Enrique made it to the passenger door of his truck before Roulette stabbed him two more times in the leg and walked away, “leaving him to die,” Negrea said.
“There is nothing accidental about going out armed with a knife large enough to penetrate 16 centimetres into somebody’s body, there is nothing accidental about jumping into a fight that didn’t involve you, turning it into a two-on-one and making sure that things got worse,” she said.
Defence lawyer Pam Smith urged Chartier to consider a sentence of no more than five years, arguing Courchene and his brother had been “posturing” about their membership in the Manitoba Warriors and Roulette feared they were armed with a gun.
Court was provided more than 20 victim impact statements describing Courchene as a kind, compassionate, family-oriented man who was looking forward to buying his first house.
Chartier will sentence Roulette Jan. 22.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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