Inmate serving life sentence for murder gets nine more years for killing cellmate in Muskoka prison

A federal inmate serving a life sentence for the 2008 murder of his former girlfriend has been sentenced to nine years for killing another inmate at a Muskoka prison. Devon Saunders, 58, admitted stabbing 30-year-old Leslie Ma in the kitchen of the medium-security federal prison on Dec. 18, 2022. Saunders has long maintained that he did not kill his former girlfriend.

Regional Senior Justice Howard Leibovich imposed the sentence in a Newmarket courtroom, months after a Bracebridge jury deliberated for a full day in June and acquitted Saunders of murder while finding him guilty of manslaughter. The defence argued that Saunders acted in self-defence; the Crown said he had plotted to kill his former cellmate.

Saunders testified that he feared for his life after being attacked in a shower eight months earlier. He said he believed Ma and a group of men were involved, and that Ma had hit him over the head with a chair during the incident.

In his sentencing decision, Leibovich found “there was no air of reality” to the defence claim that Saunders had been provoked before killing Ma. The defence argued that Ma threatened to kill Saunders after Saunders struck him in the head with a rock. The judge rejected Saunders’ claim that he was provoked in the moments before the stabbing.

“While I accept some of Mr. Saunders’ evidence, I find that generally he was inconsistent on many issues, specifically what he saw and knew about Mr. Ma’s involvement in the bathroom incident,” Leibovich said. He described as “illogical” Saunders’ testimony that he felt threatened by Ma.

Saunders testified that his conflict with Ma at the Gravenhurst prison arose from a friendship Saunders had with another inmate in Manitoba. Both Saunders and Ma had served time in Manitoba before arriving at Beaver Creek.

Saunders is serving a life sentence for murdering his former girlfriend, Shernell Pierre, in Edmonton 18 years ago, with no parole eligibility until 2037. Pierre was shot in the head inside her car, which was found burned near West Edmonton Mall. Saunders was arrested four years later and convicted of Pierre’s murder in 2015. He has maintained his innocence for years.

Saunders said he killed Ma in self-defence after being threatened, claiming Ma and his friends would kill him over a “beef” with his former cellmate. The Crown alleged Saunders had planned the killing for months, surprised Ma with a blow from a rock to the head, then stabbed him four times in the chest and side.

Ma was two years into a 12-year sentence for drug trafficking in Alberta involving cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl. The Crown sought an 18-year sentence for Saunders; the defence asked for six years, less credit for time already served in pre-sentence custody. Saunders was held at the Central North Correctional Centre while awaiting trial, under what the defence described as harsh conditions. The nine-year sentence will run concurrently with the life sentence Saunders has served since his arrest in 2012.