McQuarrie sentenced to life in prison

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Matthew McQuarrie was sentenced to life in prison Monday and he won’t be eligible to apply for parole for 15 years, after his surprise guilty plea to second-degree murder during his first-degree murder trial last week in Owen Sound. 

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Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan accepted the 34-year-old’s new plea to a lesser charge on June 12. It was entered a few days into a jury trial in the death of Emerson Sprung, 25, of Meaford on May 2, 2020 in Meaford.  

McQuarrie represented himself at trial, with assistance from two appointed lawyers. The trial was expected to last eight to 12 weeks but at a morning break last Wednesday, a lawyer appointed to help McQuarrie and the court, Tony Bryant, approached the Crown and said McQuarrie wanted to negotiate a plea. 

That afternoon, the Crown drafted an agreed statement of facts and a recommended sentence for the lesser murder charge, both of which McQuarrie endorsed, and he pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon before Justice Conlan. Conlan accepted the jointly submitted sentence Monday, calling it a fit sentence.

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The agreed statement of facts was not immediately available from the court Monday. Conlan chose not to recount the agreed facts in detail because they’re filed as an exhibit and, he said, partly because of their impact on family and friends “who have suffered so much.”  

But he cited forensic evidence presented and the injuries to the victim and concluded “this was no doubt a vicious, brutal killing. It was committed in circumstances that one usually only is forced to hear about on television.” 

The Crown’s opening statement on June 10 described forensic evidence which determined Sprung was stabbed about 12 times, suffered blunt-force trauma and died of blood loss. Police found his body wrapped in a tarp in a shallow grave in a cemetery near Memorial Park. 

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“It was an egregious example of the worst element of humankind, what happened to Emerson,” and the facts “are aggravating in this case,” Conlan said. But McQuarrie’s circumstances and “highly mitigating” guilty plea also were specifically cited by the judge.  

McQuarrie’s criminal record spans from 2001 until more recently and includes multiple convictions for violence, the judge said. But the guilty plea, “however late it may be seen by family members and friends,” is a legal sign of remorse. 

It also saved court time and resources, avoided witnesses testifying and avoided a long and the judge said he suspected “turbulent” trial. And no matter how strong the Crown’s case, there’s always a risk a trial could be derailed, he said. If that had happened, it wouldn’t have served anyone’s interests, Conlan said. 

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Assistant Crown attorney Jayme Lesperance said Monday after the sentencing that the agreed facts contained elements the Crown wanted included, it brought a life sentence and offered finality and closure to family and friends of the murdered man. 

Numerous victim impact statements were read aloud in court, most by the two Crown attorneys assigned to the case on behalf of the writers. The last statement was read by Tracy Sprung, the deceased young man’s mother, who raged derisively at McQuarrie, yelling at times during her 15-minute response to what McQuarrie did to her son and her life. 

She addressed McQuarrie’s allegation that Sprung had sexually assaulted McQuarrie’s four-year-old son the day before Sprung’s death.

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“Matthew McQuarrie, let me begin by saying how disgusted, hurt and devastated (I am) that you put out false allegations of my son to ruin his legacy. Guess what? You failed,” she said, spitting out each word with contempt. McQuarrie began to talk back from the prisoner’s box. 

Conlan asked Sprung to direct her comments to him and for McQuarrie to be quiet. 

Sprung said McQuarrie’s actions left her homeless at times, which another impact statement said was due to having to leave her apartment because McQuarrie lived just down the street. Sprung said she has cried for days on end and has spent many holidays without her son. 

She told McQuarrie what he’s put her through for the past four years “with your arrogance, evil mindset, lies and dragging this out when you knew that day . . . what you had done to my gem, Emerson.”  

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She said she felt her son’s presence at her left arm in the courtroom, and “here in sprit” was Peter Leger, the Grey County Crown attorney who died before the trial, “who gratefully began Em’s justice.” 

She walked McQuarrie through how she was feeling at not knowing what happened, visits by police, signing “heart-shattering” papers, attending meetings, and discussion of what he did to her boy, the preliminary hearing, multiple pre-trial motions, and trial preparation for a trial that was then delayed by 17 months by “your antics.”  

She said she’ll never get to see Emerson become a diesel mechanic, get married, give her a grandchild, or even ride his bike or show her a fish he’d caught. 

McQuarrie read a statement too, saying he didn’t make up anything and his allegations about Sprung were made by his child to police. He said he failed as a father to keep his child safe. But he said that “doesn’t justify my actions for what I did.” 

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“I don’t know what took hold of me the next night but I know it was evil, as if I was possessed. I didn’t think about Emerson’s family being without a son, brother, cousin or nephew. I know my actions have caused them so much grief and pain. 

“I am sorry for that but no matter how much I wish I could go back I can’t. I just hope that me pleading guilty can bring this case finality. After all these years it’s over.” 

McQuarrie said he lost his own life that night, and his kids lost their dad.  

“I’m ashamed of how much pain I’ve caused and I hope one day people will understand. I miss my kids so much no words can ever express. I’m just ready to move forward and take responsibility for what I’ve done and the pain I’ve created.” 

The judge also imposed a DNA order, a firearms and weapons prohibition, forfeiture order for the knife the Crown said was used in the murder and an incriminating cellphone found in the pond near where Sprung was killed.

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