One of two defendants arrested by police for the 2020 murder of Fenwick resident and business owner Earl Clapp has reached a plea deal with the Crown.
In a lengthy hearing held in a St. Catharines courtroom last Wednesday, a lawyer for Matthew MacInnes and Crown prosecutors hammered out an agreement that saw MacInnes walk free later that day.
An agreed statement of facts was read out before Justice Deborah Calderwood. These details are subject to a publication ban. MacInnes affirmed that the statement was correct.
MacInnes then entered guilty pleas to weapons and drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, charges laid prior to Clapp’s death, which occurred on October 2, 2020, after Clapp apparently interrupted MacInnes and co-defendant Jason Lusted attempting to steal a trailer from Clapp’s property. The 74-year-old was struck by a vehicle and dragged 1.5 km to where he was found on Highway 20, west of Cream Street.
At the time of Clapp’s death, MacInnes was on recognizance—or court-imposed conditions—for these previous charges, one condition being that MacInnes was to remain at home at night.
MacInnes also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted theft of property worth more than $5000—the incident in Fenwick on October 2. The Crown then dropped its charge of second-degree murder.
Using a complex formula agreed to by all parties, Justice Calderwood then sentenced MacInnes for his past crimes and the attempted theft to a jail term equivalent to the time he had already served since being arrested for Clapp’s murder—the 515 days between October 10, 2020 and last Wednesday.
It is anticipated that MacInnes’s testimony will now be used in the prosecution of Jason Lusted during the latter’s preliminary hearing, which begins Monday, March 21 at 10 AM at the St. Catharines courthouse. It is open to the public.
