NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – The grim reality of the illegal drug trade is on full display at the sentencing hearing for a man who has admitted to planning the killing of a Mission couple in 2008. The defence and Crown Counsel are asking for a 10-year sentence, minus 145 days credit for time served for Tom Holden. The decision has been put over until February 10th.
The Crown & defence have put together a joint submission — asking for 10 years minus credit for time served (10 years minus 145 days).
— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) January 9, 2017
In September, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and now he claims Dudley, a former intimate partner and someone he once owned a grow-op with, had threatened him and his family.
At issue was money Dudley claimed she was owed from their shared grow-op. Today the court heard the pair had a personal past as well. Dudley had apparently asked Holden to leave his family to be with her, something he refused.
The three men who actually carried out killings have already been convicted.
This case dates back nearly a decade when Dudley was shot twice while sitting in the kitchen of her Mission home. Reportedly, officers who were called out to the scene only drove by, but never actually went to check on her. Her partner, Guthrie McKay, had also been hit and lay dead on the floor near her.
(Lisa Dudley)
Four days later Dudley was found and rushed to the hospital where she died following a cardiac arrest at the age of 37.
Investigators had said the shooting was over a dispute involving a marijuana grow-op. The first RCMP officer who responded to the call never got out of his police cruiser and later reported he didn’t see anything unusual. In a subsequent police review, that Mountie was found guilty of disgraceful conduct and deducted one day’s pay.
Dorothy McKay reads victim impact statement — says her son’s killing has left her “morally and emotionally crippled.”
— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) January 9, 2017
Dudley’s family in the interim has launched an online fundraiser because they say Mounties failed to protect her Charter Rights by not checking on her properly. However, Crown Counsel says a person’s Charter Rights die when they do.