Months after marrying a one-time pro wrestler, Melody Sanford orchestrated a plan in which her estranged husband was beaten to death in a “vicious” murder-for-hire plot.
Now, a jury will decide whether Sanford, 60, can apply for early parole on her sentence for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Court of King’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg ruled earlier this month.
Sanford, along with her friend Rita Cushnie and Cushnie’s son, Donald Richard, were convicted by a jury and given life sentences with no parole for 25 years in October 2011 for the slaying of 43-year-old Ivan Radocaj in September 2007. Cushnie had her conviction overturned in 2013 but was convicted a second time of first-degree murder in 2015.
Two co-accused, Daniel Richard and Christopher Houle, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Sanford, who has served 16 years of her murder sentence, applied to the court under the “faint hope” clause, seeking a jury hearing over her period of parole ineligibility.
The Criminal Code provision allows some prisoners sentenced to life for first-degree murder to ask a jury they be allowed to apply for parole after serving 15 years. The application must first be approved by a judge.
The faint hope clause was eliminated by prime minister Stephen Harper’s government in December 2011, but is still an option for prisoners who were convicted before the law was changed.
Greenberg reviewed the legal filings from Sanford’s defence lawyers, Ryan Amy and Erika Brenner of Winnipeg firm Brodsky Amy Gould, and decided the convicted killer has produced evidence she has been rehabilitated.
Sanford, who was 43 at the time of the killing, had married Radocaj in the spring of 2007, but the marriage only lasted a few months before they separated and she searched for someone to kill him, Greenberg wrote in her May 3 decision.
Sanford claimed Radocaj — a professional wrestler in the 1980s known under various names, including the Croatian Giant — was abusive and sexually abused her daughter, though her daughter testified he had never harmed her, Greenberg said.
Sanford convinced Cushnie, and her son Richard, to help her in the slaying plot. Richard roped in the others.
Sanford offered the group cash to kill Radocaj and met with them several times to discuss it, showing them photos of his Inwood home so they could determine how to get inside.
On Sept. 12, 2007, Sanford met with Radocaj at a restaurant under the pretense of wanting to reconcile. It was a ruse to get him out of the house, as the others in on the plot waited at his home and Cushnie passed phone messages between Sanford and Richard.
Richard and the male co-accused beat him to death with a baseball bat and crowbars when he returned home.
“This was a vicious crime which had and continues to have a devastating effect on Mr. Radocaj’s family,” said Greenberg.
The judge noted Sanford has been charged in four institutional offences while in prison, including for threatening inmates in 2017 and possessing pills in 2016.
Sanford’s lawyers filed a number of institutional reports, written by prison authorities, which Greenberg said are for the most part positive.
The judge also said she found it concerning that those who wrote the reports accepted Sanford’s explanation for the crimes, claiming she was provoked by Radocaj’s allegedly abusive behaviour.
“As late as October 2022 … she maintained that the deceased had drugged and taken pictures of her daughter. She said she’d had enough and was disgusted,” wrote Greenberg. “Since her daughter testified that this never happened, one has to wonder whether there is any truth to Ms. Sanford’s other allegations of abuse.”
Greenberg also wrote Sanford seemed slow to recognize that even if abuse explained her actions, it did not justify them. Sanford continued to maintain in a recent psychological report that although she took responsibility for the crime, she only hired people to beat Radocaj up, not kill him.
However, the judge found there is “a lot of information” in the prison reports to support reconsidering Sanford’s parole ineligibility.
That includes recent reports describing her behaviour as excellent, as well as her requested moves to different prisons made to be near family that were approved, indicating there weren’t security concerns. She has also since remarried.
Sanford has shown she is motivated to improve herself and be productive, having worked jobs in prison continually and finishing her high school equivalency, said Greenberg. She’s now classified as a minimum security offender.
“She is assessed as a low risk to reoffend. Reports describe her behaviour as positive and say that she is polite and respectful of staff and other offenders,” said Greenberg.
“She appears to have been a model inmate, at least for the last seven years.”
Greenberg noted that although the Crown has concerns about Sanford minimizing her conduct, prosecutors concede Sanford meets the test for putting the application to a jury.
A date for the jury hearing has not yet been set.
Court records show neither Richard nor Cushnie have applied for a faint hope hearing.
The Parole Board of Canada would ultimately decide whether to grant Sanford’s release, regardless of any decision by a jury.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.
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