A provincial court judge has sentenced Michael Anthony Tufano to four years in federal prison for the latter’s “criminally negligent actions” with a firearm that led to Brandon Harris’ death.
“Mr. Harris was somebody who was known to you. Mr. Harris was a brother, Mr. Harris was a son, and now he’s gone as a result of your criminally negligent actions,” Judge Brian Hendrickson said in Moose Jaw Provincial Court on Nov. 8.
“You have indicated that you feel remorse for that. I accept that, but I hope you understand — know you understand — what impact your negligent actions have had on the surviving members of the Harris family. … your moral culpability is great in that offence.”
The judge then summarized victim impact statements from Harris’ twin sister, Jessica, and father, Ed.
Jessica wrote that she couldn’t sleep without having nightmares for weeks afterward and wanted to engage in self-harm because she experienced severe psychological issues.
Ed wrote that it was “surreal to lose a child” carelessly, while Brandon, 25, had been close to his two siblings.
“I feel violated and robbed of something that can’t be replaced,” the father added.
During his court appearance, Tufano, 29, from Moose Jaw, pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by criminal negligence with a firearm and one count of trafficking drugs.
As part of a joint submission, the 29-year-old will spend 1,460 days — or four years — in jail for killing Harris. Since Tufano spent 197 days on remand, the court credited him 296 days. This results in him serving 1,164 days — over three years — in a federal pen.
He also received 730 days — two years — in jail for the drug charge; this will run concurrently — simultaneously — as the main offence.
“I’m sorry … ,” Tufano said. “I wish I could take it back.”
Provincial Crown prosecutor Rob Parker read an agreed statement of facts during the proceedings. He described the situation as an “unfortunate incident.” He noted that Tufano has a short criminal record.
Tufano — then 28 — went to an apartment building on the 0 block of Stadacona Street West on March 30 to visit his girlfriend, Faith Marie Nichol. He brought a .22-calibre lever-action rifle that had already had a live round chambered in the barrel.
He went into Nichol’s bedroom with Harris, where she administered drugs to them via intravenous needle. Tufano put the rifle on the bed, and somehow, it discharged, and the bullet struck Harris in the chest, killing him.
“All of the occupants in the bedroom were under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident … ,” Parker said, noting it was Tufano’s “criminal negligence” of with the rifle that caused Harris’ death.
Parker added that using a firearm in an offence automatically leads to a mandatory minimum jail sentence of four years. He asked the judge to ban Tufano from possessing weapons or firearms for 10 years and to provide a DNA sample.
Federal Crown prosecutor Adam Ferguson explained that on Sept. 23 at 11:30 a.m., police visited Tufano’s home for a curfew check and a search. When they arrived, they found drug scoresheets, baggies, prescription pills and a weight scale. The drugs seized included 23.4 grams of methamphetamines, 0.3 grams of crack cocaine, 0.5 grams of psilocybin and nine bags of pills.
Defence lawyer Adam Fritzler explained that Tufano developed a drug addiction after leaving high school, which evolved from crack cocaine to meth.
He later met Nichol and they dated for five years. He attempted to become sober during that time, but that led to friction between the couple, so he continued using meth daily.
The two broke up while they were in custody.
All three people knew each other, so what happened was troubling, said Fritzler. A police audio recording revealed that after the gunshot, Tufano told Harris that things would be OK and to “tough it out.”
“Mr. Tufano, having lived through that, (that) is something he will never forget,” the defence lawyer added.
