Killer to get a second chance

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This article was published 21/08/2014 (4245 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE National Parole Board has found its members didn’t provide a fair hearing to a notorious Manitoba killer seeking leave from prison on compassionate grounds.

Michael Bridges appeared before a two-person federal panel in June, asking for escorted absences to visit a dying family member in hospital, although he isn’t eligible to apply for parole until 2029.

His request was denied. But in documents obtained by the Free Press, the parole board has now struck down that decision and ruled Bridges should be given a second chance.

They say the panel made errors in law, failed to provide sufficient reasons for its denial, conducted an inadequate risk assessment of Bridges and “did not meet its duty to act fairly.”

“Two other board members, who did not take part in the decision… will review your case and reach their own conclusions in conformity with the law, board policy and the principles of fundamental justice,” the decision reads.

No date for the new hearing has been set.

Bridges, 33, says a loved one is terminally ill and he wants to spend time with the person in hospital. Specific reference to the identity of the male relative is blacked out in parole documents.

His initial request was quickly shot down for several reasons, including the brutal nature of his crime and the views of the family of his victim, Erin Chorney. An impact statement written earlier this year was presented at the hearing.

Bridges and Chorney, 18, had been involved in a stormy relationship that ended shortly before he killed her in Brandon in 2002. The case would remain unsolved until 2004, and Chorney’s family still hoped she might be alive.

During an elaborate “Mr. Big” RCMP operation, Bridges calmly explained how he choked Chorney unconscious, then cut the cord off his mother’s hair dryer and used it to strangle Chorney. When she didn’t die, he submerged her head in his bathtub for nearly 20 minutes.

Bridges then carried her body to a nearby cemetery, dug up a freshly covered grave and placed her inside.

Bridges was convicted in 2005 of first-degree murder and lost a subsequent appeal. He tried to claim he was an innocent victim of police entrapment — despite having specific knowledge of the crime only the killer would have known.

Parole documents show he has completed numerous family-violence and anger-management programs while behind bars, upgraded his education and is now deemed a low-enough risk that he was moved to a minimum-security penitentiary earlier this year.

Bridges has also expressed interest in a future restorative justice process with Chorney’s family, “so that they can get what they need from me.” The family has told the Free Press they have no interest in speaking with him. As part of his request for escorted leaves, Bridges proposed he would travel from prison to hospital in a Correctional Services vehicle with at least one armed escort. He would also be allowed to stop for a restaurant meal during each nine-hour trip.

 

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