Man sentenced to prison for manslaughter, but appealed

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BRANTFORD – Connor Gibson was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for manslaughter in the death of a man he hit with a two-by-four board.

But Gibson, smartly dressed in a suit and tie in Brantford Superior Court, and his lawyer met a few hours later Thursday in Toronto to arrange bail and prepare to appeal the decision.

“It’s not fair,” Smith’s stepfather, Brian Anderson, said outside the courthouse. “He was sentenced to prison and he can go in and out of Toronto this afternoon?

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Gibson was found guilty by a Brantford jury in the death of Smith, 37, on September 12, 2021, despite his not guilty plea.

Evidence shows the two men met by chance after hours at a downtown bar and engaged in discussions on the street.

Gibson said Smith may have had a knife. Assistant Crown attorney Jeff Mazin said Smith followed Gibson home and was “looking for trouble.”

When Smith arrived on Gibson's porch and refused to leave, Gibson picked up a nearby wooden board and hit Smith in the head.

This fractured Smith's skull, and after several days in the hospital, he died. Gibson's aggravated assault charges were upgraded to manslaughter.

Outside the courthouse, Smith's stepfather admitted that his son was a “scrapman” who often got into fights, but said he “never used a knife.”

No knife was found by police, although a box cutter was in a zippered pocket of Smith's duffel bag that night.

Gibson was provoked, Judge Harrison Arrell ruled, but he had a choice: Gibson could have backed away, called the police, screamed for help, used the board to push Smith away or even hit Smith's body rather than his head .

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“The jury decided that this was not a case of self-defense,” the judge said. “The violent blow to the side of the head could have no other result than serious injury or even death.”

Arrell had to weigh very different arguments on both sides: The Crown asked for five or six years in prison while defense lawyer Stephen Whitzman suggested Gibson could get a suspended or suspended sentence that would prevent him from 'go to jail.

After Gibson's conviction in December, Whitzman said he was shocked by the decision, believing Gibson had acted to protect himself and had very little “moral culpability.”

At the time of Smith's death, Gibson was 23 years old and had suffered from mental health issues since high school. His mother said he had been hospitalized several times.

Since the incident, Gibson, who has no criminal record, has married and remained sober, said the judge, who has received numerous letters of support for Gibson from family, friends and an advisor.

“There has been significant improvement since this attack. . . and it's clear there's a lot of positive support from his family.

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But, Arrell said, Gibson's “error in judgment” led to Smith's death.

As soon as Gibson was sentenced, his lawyer asked to make sure the two-by-four board that killed Smith would be preserved for the Court of Appeals to see.

Whitzman said he believed the jury was wrong to reject Gibson's self-defense argument and that the judge may have erred in saying a suspended sentence was not appropriate in the case. of manslaughter in this case.

Outside court, Smith's stepfather said the sentence made him “very, very happy” but that the appeal process was causing even more distress for his family.

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