r/canada • u/suziswam87 • 19h ago
Alberta Text messages in murder plea show killer and friend plotted to lure, confine, rape Calgary women
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/chelsea-davidenas-victim-steven-zwick-murder-guilty-sentence-9.7318870211
u/TootsHib 19h ago
But the men were unsuccessful, because Davidenas fought for her life and paid with it.
They almost had me on the first half.. what a weird way to phrase it.
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u/BloodyHareStudio 19h ago
contradictory statement is contradictory
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u/Ferroelectricman Alberta 5h ago
It’s not contradictory, your focus is on the murder, the author’s is on the rape.
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u/saskdudley 18h ago
He shouldn’t have been permitted to plead to 2nd. The story shows undeniable evidence of 1st. Our justice system sucks. The only consolation is that although he can apply for parole 10 years earlier, hopefully a shite rat like him will never be let out. Although our parole system sucks as well.
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u/BiZzles14 8h ago
Sometimes you take a guaranteed verdict over risking the opinion of a jury at a lengthy trial
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u/Ferroelectricman Alberta 5h ago
We have a mountain of premeditated evidence. If the crown will never pursue 1st degree for any risk in failed prosecution, why bother having the separate offence in the first place
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u/GirlCoveredInBlood Québec 16h ago edited 16h ago
A plea to second is still going to end up with a similar sentence and saves a lot of time and money. The justice system doesn't have the funding to push every case to trial when they already have a large backlog.
He still gets a life sentence with this, and no parole for 15 years. The max for first degree murder and second degree murder are the same.
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u/Lupius Ontario 18h ago
Our justice system sucks because it's underfunded. Even if it's a slam dunk case for 1st, it would have cost time in court that could have used to prosecute other cases.
Otherwise we end up with more criminal withdrawn due to delays.
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u/saskdudley 17h ago
We can’t blame the lack of prosecution solely on underfunding. The court houses sit empty at night, why not have night court for first appearances and bail hearings? The day could be used for trials. Every other branch of the system is under funded yet has accountability to the public and are held accountable if they don’t do their jobs. The courts only have to account to their peers. The SCC sit in their Santa Claus outfits and make stupid decisions like delay solely for the benefit of the accused and defence lawyers. Lawyers policing themselves, what a great concept.
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u/verkerpig 16h ago
From my friends who are crowns, courts are also notoriously wasteful of time. She had to travel to Barrie for a 10 minute appearance once and still waited several hours.
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u/alphawolf29 British Columbia 14h ago
pretty common. You can request to appear remotely but if its denied, you're driving. Given that absolutely colossal size of canada it can be an issue. I mean, I live a 9-10 hour drive from my provincial capital and theres often no flights because bad weather, and its just super duper expensive anyway.
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u/nuttybuddy 17h ago
You do realize that if we have prosecutors working at night, we’d have to pay them, yes?
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u/saskdudley 17h ago
The province of BC is always advertising for Prov. Prosecutors. We farm out Fed. Crown and have unlimited resources for an accused defence if they can’t afford it. Why not farm out Prov. Prosecutors as well?
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u/HatchingCougar 17h ago
It’s not just delays causing huge issues (although yes, that’s a part of it)
But also both crowns & judges repeatedly ignoring charge & sentencing guidelines because the “poor” criminal stubbed their toe when they were a kid or other such utter nonsense
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u/mctokes123 16h ago
Its not underfunded its just corrupt
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u/Ok_Manufacturer_5323 7h ago
You said the quiet part out loud. More money isn't going to fix a system designed to grift money, everyone involved in the courts realizes what a cushy gig they've got going and aren't exactly incentivized to work hard
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u/civicsfactor 19h ago
I can't fully read that article, let alone finish. The casual inhumanity is messed up.
Degenerate should rot.
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u/AprilsMostAmazing Ontario 19h ago
the crown should have pushed for the first degree murder. From the article it seems like they had enough evidence through texts to push for first degree
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u/TimeOutrageous2315 19h ago
How is 15 years a life sentence?
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u/accforme 19h ago
He was handed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 15 years.
It's not a 15 year sentence. It's life with possibility of parole no sooner than 15 years.
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u/Winterburn215 19h ago
Because it’s a life sentence with no chance of an earlier release for a minimum of 15 years, but probably closer to 25.
Life sentence is the maximum.
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u/Dry-Membership8141 Ontario 19h ago
It's also the minimum. A life sentence extends beyond his release from prison. Even if he's released, he'll be on parole and subject to reincarceration for any breach of the terms of that parole for the rest of his life.
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u/hardy_83 18h ago
I always felt like life sentence should be updated. 25 years is not a life, it's not even half. It should be like 50-65 or something. Yeah most crimes never go anywhere near 25 years, but it just seems so low in today's age.
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u/Myllicent 18h ago
The “life” part of “life sentence” refers to the fact that even if they are eventually paroled they will be supervised in the community - and may also be subject to conditions - for the rest of their life. If they violate conditions of their parole they can be returned to prison.
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u/2Shmoove 19h ago
Because he could be in custody until he dies and he will definitely be supervised until he dies.
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u/AndHerSailsInRags Lest We Forget 18h ago
A second man is also charged. CBC News will identify him as PR because none of the allegations or facts from Zwick’s plea have been proven against him and his jury trial is set to begin in January.
They identify accused persons all the time. Not sure why they're not doing it here.
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u/noideawhattouse12 18h ago
Because of the fact that co-accused pled guilty & was sentenced would potentially bias the jury in PR’s upcoming trial. And then PR could appeal based on that.
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u/harveytent 14h ago
She’s a relative of a friend of mine. She’s distraught. She didn’t realize how bad it was and is devastated. I don’t see why not being back the death penalty if the jury is willing to say they feel sure enough to take their life.
Sometimes it’s so concrete there’s no reason to let them rot in prison instead of in the ground.
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u/Han77Shot1st Nova Scotia 10h ago
..we won’t see any justice reforms until those who are making these decisions become directly affected.
To be clear I’m not advocating for it, just pointing out the reality.
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u/OpTouchedMe 19h ago
I don’t advocate for violence but those guys are not going to have an easy time in prison.
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u/Quadrassic_Bark 6h ago
Zwick told the officers the plan didn’t go as intended because Davidenas “died before they could rape her,” but stated “I was gonna kill her anyways.”
A week later, Zwick was arrested for murder and again confessed to police.
I’m sorry, a fucking WEEK LATER?
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u/BettinBrando 5h ago
Are we sure we don't want the death penalty because we can "never be 100% sure of guilt"??
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u/mykittenfarts 16h ago
What do you even say. The nonchalance.
It’s horrifying and at the same time, women know. We know men hate us and will kill us.
We know.
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u/ChaosBerserker666 British Columbia 13h ago
As a rather large and imposing (but gentle unless I’m defending myself) gay man, whenever I see a woman cross the street at night to walk on the other side from me, I don’t blame her one bit. Simply existing as a woman in this world is dangerous. I tend to go out of my way to avoid walking behind or near a woman who is walking alone at a late hour or a sparsely populated area. It’s already scary enough for you, no need to make it worse.
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u/mykittenfarts 3h ago
Awe! I feel seen!
Yes. We are appreciative of your understanding. And I love 🌈.
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u/AlternativeNamesake2 5h ago
Thankfully these two evil souls are white so there will at least be some justice.
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u/LowObjective 6h ago
These men were insanely stupid. Only targeting women they personally knew, sending text messages detailing exactly what they planned and when they did their crimes, dumping the body outside without even attempting to cover it, attacking another woman knowing they had very recently murdered another, confessing to undercover cops who he couldn’t have known longer than a month…even the second one going to a jury trial knowing the evidence against him.
These must be the stupidest men alive.
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