Victim's mother livid at second-degree murder plea ahead of first-degree murder trial

The family of a murder victim left the Moncton courthouse outraged on Monday, after a man set to stand trial for first-degree murder next week pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. 

“My son’s life was way more valuable than a second-degree (murder) plea,” said Lise Lamoureux, mother of victim Max Boudreau. “What about justice for our family? Where’s the justice in that? Where’s the justice for Max and his friends?” 

Boudreau, 24, was last seen leaving a Dieppe bar on Nov. 15, 2022. His body was found a week later in a wooded area in Irishtown.

Justin Barrow, 43, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and was a week away from the start of his trial when he pleaded to second-degree murder instead.

Dozens of friends and family were present for the plea in the courtroom, then Lamoureux spoke for the group outside the building, expressing her anguish and outrage through tears while supported by loved ones. 

She told reporters the family was not consulted on the plea to second-degree murder, just informed it would happen by the prosecutors.  

“It’s just very, very, very upsetting,” she said. “None of our family members are pleased with the outcome today.” 

Lamoureux told reporters she would have preferred to see the case go to trial to let a jury decide on the first-degree murder charge. 

“It would have been a fair trial. It would have been justice for Max,” she said. “You can’t tell me there’s justice that was done here.

“If the Crown and the courts think this is fair justice, it’s not. There’s something wrong with our justice system.” 

Barrow, who has been in custody since his arrest in November 2022, appeared in the prisoner’s dock as Justice Robert Dysart read the charge. Barrow pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder but guilty to the included offence of second-degree murder with the consent of the Crown. 

The court ordered a pre-sentence report and was informed 15 people want to write victim impact statements for the sentencing hearing, which was scheduled for July 30. The Crown and defence will make a joint recommendation on sentence. 

Dysart indicated to Barrow that the sentence will be life in prison and the only thing the court must decide is how long he must wait to apply for parole, which for second-degree murder is from 10 to 25 years. 

The case had been subject to several publication bans that were all lifted.

The prosecutor read the facts of the offence to substantiate the plea of guilt, though Crown Maurice Blanchard told the court the Crown and defence are working on a more detailed statement of facts for the sentencing hearing. 

Blanchard said that on Nov. 15, 2022, Boudreau went to Angie’s Show Palace in Dieppe and was drinking during the evening. He left at 2:55 a.m. in a taxi, and Barrow, a strip club employee, followed in a vehicle. 

Blanchard said Barrow then intercepted the taxi and Boudreau got out of the cab and into Barrow’s vehicle, court heard. They drove toward Irishtown, just north of Moncton, and stopped on Paris Street, where a new subdivision is being developed. 

The prosecutor said a dispute began at that point. 

“Mr. Barrow struck Mr. Boudreau with his fists, he then cut him using a knife and finally he struck him with an axe,” he said as family members cried in the gallery. “The body was dragged by Mr. Barrow out into the bush.” 

Barrow led investigators to the body on Nov. 22 after Boudreau had been reported missing. 

Barrow confirmed the Crown’s version of events. 

The offender had also been on a no-contact order with his own immediate family since his arrest, but that was dropped with the guilty plea on Monday, with Blanchard explaining the cancelling of the trial means there’s no long a risk of witnesses being contaminated. 

Lamoureux pointed out after court that she will never be able to have contact with her own son again. 

“As of today he gets to talk to his family, he gets visitation rights. I don’t get the chance to call back my son,” she said. 

Boudreau’s mother said the hearing was difficult to sit through. 

“It’s a shock, especially after hearing a little more details of the events that happened,” she said. “Hearing the fact he punched him, stabbed him and killed him with an axe – and we know it was in the head.” 

She described Max as a “happy, openly gay man” and expressed dismay that the Crown dropped an allegation a sex assault was committed as part of the murder.

“I’m just wondering if it would have been a female, how justice would have prevailed then?” she said. 

Lamoureux said she’s willing to fight this outcome.  

“The family is just upset,” she said. “In my eyes, he got away with murder. Way too easy.” 

In reaction to the mother’s comments, Blanchard said the Crown can’t make any comment until the end of the case.