Gunman pleads guilty to first-degree murder

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This article was published 09/10/2013 (4781 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a surprise move, the man who shot and killed Brent Michael David Bialkoski has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Robert Patrick Ray Morand entered his plea in Brandon Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday afternoon.

The unexpected guilty plea, entered after a legal ordeal that has lasted more than three years, stunned Bialkoski’s father, Merv Bialkoski, who was present in court.

He said that, while the plea gave him some relief, it didn’t necessarily bring closure because his family is still trying to come to terms with his son’s death.

“Everybody likes to use the word ‘closure,’ but I don’t know what that means. Brent is not here anymore, physically, so that won’t change,” Merv Bialkoski said.

Brent Bialkoski, 23, was shot dead at a Neepawa home in the early morning of April 10, 2010.

Morand’s jury trial on the charge of first-degree murder was set to start in December in Court of Queen’s Bench. He was also to be tried on a count of attempted murder for trying to shoot Bialkoski’s friend, Michael (Bo) David Smith.

First, though, a four-day voir dire was to be held this week to determine the admissibility of various statements Morand made to police.

On Tuesday, less than one day into that voir dire, Morand suddenly opted to enter guilty pleas to both the first-degree murder and attempted murder charges.

With those pleas entered, the Brandon Sun is now free to print previously unreleased details of the crime.

Crown attorney Jim Ross delivered the following account of the killing.

On April 9, 2010, two young couples — Bialkoski and his girlfriend Heather Elyn, and Smith and his girlfriend April Masters — were out at a Neepawa bar.

There, around closing time, they met 21-year-old Morand, who had been drinking. The couples had never met Morand before.

Bialkoski was living in Brandon at the time but was visiting Neepawa on the evening of the shooting.

Morand had a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle hidden up his sleeve while at the bar. He’d later tell police that he carried it for protection.

Morand, still armed with the gun, went back with the couples to a home, where they all talked and drank.

When it got late, Morand was offered the couch to sleep on while everyone else went to bed.

At some point, Morand went outside, where he remained for 10 to 15 minutes before Elyn opened the door to go outside with Bialkoski. There was no running water in the home and they had to go to the bathroom.

Morand pushed past Elyn, approached Bialkoski and shot him in the neck at close range. The shot severed Bialkoski’s spinal cord and was almost instantly fatal.

The gunman then hit Elyn, either with the butt of the gun or his fist, and ordered the woman upstairs to the bedroom where Smith and Masters were.

Elyn ran ahead of Morand and yelled and Smith tried to shut Morand out of the room.

But Morand was able to force his way in, raised the sawed-off rifle to Smith’s torso and pulled the trigger — but the gun failed to fire.

Smith, Elyn and Masters then forced their way out of the room and fled the house.

Morand surrendered at the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters about 33 hours later in dramatic fashion, according to a summary of evidence outlined by a judge during his November 2011 preliminary hearing.

Court heard that Morand walked up to a uniformed officer outside the WPS HQ, threw his hands in the air and said “you got me.” He was then directed inside to the counter and told another officer: “I want to talk about a murder.”

In court on Tuesday, Ross explained that a first-degree murder charge requires evidence that a killing was planned, although the plan doesn’t have to be complex.

Morand told police that in the minutes before the killing, he’d been brooding outside the Neepawa house as he believed that the people inside had insulted him, particularly Smith.

Ross said Morand told police: “I wasn’t in the right state of mind … I don’t know what made me do it, I’m evil, I don’t know man, it was all the alcohol controlling me … a lot of things were chopping me up, I could snap on anybody.”

Morand told police that he’d planned to shoot the people in the home. He specifically said he’d intended to shoot Bialkoski’s “buddy,” but shot the wrong guy.

Justice John Menzies has set sentencing for Thursday to give Bialkoski’s family time to prepare victim impact statements.

Morand faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison on the first-degree murder charge with no chance of parole for 25 years.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com