THUNDER BAY — A man who conceded to aiding and abetting in the 2019 death of 21-year-old Robenson Saint Jean by facilitating a meeting with a drug dealer that turned violent has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Jeffrey Miller, 44, appeared before Justice Danial Newton in a Thunder Bay Courtroom on Monday where he pleaded not guilty to the original charge of second-degree murder, but guilty to the lesser included charge of manslaughter.
First arrested on March 30, 2019 by the Thunder Bay Police Service, Miller was originally scheduled to stand trial on the charge of second-degree murder starting this week.
The charges relate an incident on the afternoon of March 29, 2019 when police received a 911 call regarding an injured male in the Hilldale Road area.
According to an agreed statement of facts read into the court record, the man, later identified as Saint Jean of Ottawa, was located just after 12 p.m. without shoes and a laceration to his throat.
Despite life-saving efforts by police and paramedics, Saint Jean was pronounced dead at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Broken glass believed to be from a car side window was located at the scene near Saint Jean and a witness in the area reported seeing a white, older model truck in the area shortly before Saint Jean was seen crouched over on the roadway.
Police conducted a search throughout the city for an older model truck with a broken window. The vehicle was located later that evening in the parking lot of a Cumberland Street motel and police determined it was registered to Miller’s estranged wife.
Miller and a woman were observed leaving the motel and driving away in the truck. Police conducted a traffic stop and determined Miller was the driver.
Examination of the vehicle revealed shards of glass from the broken window inside and it was later determined that the shards matched the glass found on the road where Saint Jean was located.
Further forensic examination found blood-like staining on the shards of glass, as well as on Miller’s shirt and shoes, with a DNA profile matching that of Saint Jean.
Police learned Miller and the woman were involved with drug use. The woman observed that Miller would drive people around to transport drugs and he would be paid in either drugs or money.
On March 28, 2019, the woman received a text message from someone she knew to be Saint Jean and who she and Miller had acquired drugs from in the past. The message from Saint Jean instructed Miller to give him a ride.
Miller and the woman met Saint Jean at a Leslie Avenue residence that night. When the woman woke up the next morning, Miller and Saint Jean were gone.
Before noon on March 29, 2019, Miller and Saint Jean left the Leslie Avenue residence in the white truck. Miller hoped to receive drugs as payment for driving
Miller was aware that Saint Jean had a violent relationship with his drug supplier, a man from southern Ontario known only by the nickname Pitbull, who was angry over an outstanding debt.
It was conceded in the agreed statement of facts that Miller ought to have known or suspected that violence between Saint Jean and his supplier was foreseeable, especially in the context of the drug trade in the city.
After picking up the supplier, Miller was instructed to drive to a secluded area. Miller drove to Hilldale Road and while on the way an argument ensued between Saint Jean and the supplier.
The supplier then punched Saint Jean, causing him to bleed. Miller stopped the truck near Fisher Road and got out, leaving the keys in the ignition.
Miller told the supplier he should leave the truck at a business on Wardrope Avenue after he sorted everything out with Saint Jean.
The supplier climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away northbound on Hilldale Road. Miller walked back to the business where he found the vehicle. The passenger side window was missing and there were drugs and cash inside, which Miller assumed was for keeping silent about the incident.
The defense conceded that by Miller’s actions in facilitating the meeting and interaction between Saint Jean and the supplier, knowing the violence between the two and the violent incident that occurred in the vehicle, he aided and abetted in the unlawful death of Saint Jean, and he is therefore guilty of manslaughter.
The case will return to court again in January 2023 to set a date for a contested sentencing hearing. Miller remains out of custody on bail.
