Killer receives suspended sentence for jostling Sudbury Jail guard

A Sudbury man already serving a life sentence for a brutal murder three years ago has received a suspended sentence for an attack on a jail guard.

Darcy Sheppard, 32, was charged with aggravated assault for the alleged incident at the Sudbury Jail in 2018. On Thursday, with the consent of the Crown, Sheppard pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault.

The court heard that on Oct. 26, 2018, a correctional officer was having difficulty with Sheppard, who was becoming belligerent. A second correctional officer went to the aid of his co-worker and Sheppard struck the second officer.

Defence lawyer Glenn Sandberg said Sheppard admits to pushing the second officer.

Justice Heather-Ann Mendes, accepting a joint sentencing submission from the Crown and Sandberg, issued a suspended sentence and a one-year probation order that includes the condition Sheppard not interfere with the correctional officer he pushed.

“It was a minor incident at the jail,” assistant Crown attorney Jeffrey Martin said. “Mr. Sheppard was upset.”

Martin added the Crown talked to the correctional officer involved in the case and he was fine with the proposed outcome.

Sheppard is already serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 17 years for killing and dismembering Kenneth Edwards on March 11, 2017.

In May, Sheppard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, arson and causing an indignity to human remains.

On Oct. 7, 2019, Superior Court Justice Dan Cornell imposed the life sentence on Sheppard.

The court was told that at the time of the murder, Sheppard had been living with Edwards for about two weeks at the victim’s home in Minnow Lake. Sheppard stabbed Edwards, bashed his head in with a baseball bat and cut up his body, then set Edwards’ shed on his Bancroft Drive home to cover up his crime.

Greater Sudbury firefighters found body parts when they responded to the shed fire and called Greater Sudbury Police. When officers went inside the Edwards home, they found blood spatter on the walls, blood on the living room and bathroom floors, and indications a human body had been cut up in the bathtub.

In addition to body parts, police investigators found a broken baseball bat, a knife, a reciprocating saw and a handsaw.

Sheppard told a friend that Edwards had asked him to kill him because he was dying. He said Edwards offered him a $10 million lottery ticket in exchange for killing him.

However, the court was told there was no evidence of a winning lottery ticket or that Edwards was sick.

In a statement made to police on March 13, 2018, Sheppard said it was Edwards who proposed his death.

“Kenny told him he was dying of leukemia and as a result, he ‘wanted to go out with a bang,” said assistant Crown attorney Lindsey Santerre. “He wanted his ashes to be spread on a river.”

Sheppard also said a second man — Patrick Sweeney — was involved in the murder “in an attempt to deflect his own involvement,” said Santerre.

Sweeney was arrested and spent about six-and-a-half months in custody before the Crown stayed charges against him.

hcarmichael@postmedia.com

Twitter: @HaroldCarmichae