R v Darren Williams
[2013] VSC 135
•6 February 2013
| IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA | Not Restricted |
AT MILDURA
CRIMINAL DIVISION
No. 0097 of 2012
| THE QUEEN |
| v |
| DARREN WILLIAMS |
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JUDGE: | KING J | |
WHERE HELD: | Mildura | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 4 February 2013 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 6 February 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | R v Darren Williams | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VSC 135 | |
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Plea of guilty: murder and theft – indigenous offender, dysfunctional and deprived background – alcohol and drug abuse. Fact finding issue regarding allegation of sexual assault.
Sentence: murder - 17 years and 6 months with a minimum of 14 years and 6 months, theft - 3 months, served concurrently.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | Ms P Rose S.C. | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr P Darcy | Tony Danos Solicitors |
HER HONOUR:
Darren Williams you have pleaded guilty to one charge of murdering Gary John Beggs, such murder having occurred at Swan Hill on 28 September 2011. You have also pleaded guilty to one count of stealing a Toyota station wagon belonging to Gary John Beggs on the same date. The maximum penalties are life imprisonment for the offence of murder, and 10 years imprisonment for the offence of theft.
You are now 38 years of age, having been born on 14 August 1974 and you are an Aboriginal. You have very significant prior convictions dating back to 1992, when you would have been aged 21. The large majority of those offences are for assaults in one form or another, with all of your offending history having occurred in New South Wales, predominantly Broken Hill and Wentworth.
Your counsel informed the court that you have spent a total of at least 61 months in custody over the period of time relating to your offending history. That does not take into account any parole periods for which you were breached which would appear to be numerous. The type of assault offences for which you have been convicted are simple assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault, beat and ill-treat, maliciously wound, maliciously inflict grievous bodily harm and stalking-type offences. The most recent of those offences were on 27 February 2009 in which there were three charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. One of failing to appear in accordance with bail undertaking, one of contravening an AVO and one of resisting an officer in the execution of duty – for those offences you received a total of 12 months imprisonment with a minimum of 4 months. You have, over the years, received non-custodial financial penalties for some matters as well as good behaviour bonds and custodial sentences. Your criminal history is relatively lengthy and, as I indicated, predominantly for offences of violence. It clearly reflects your alcohol and drug problems that you have had over the years which also results in your inability to contain your anger.
The deceased man, Gary John Beggs, was aged 65 at the time he was killed. He lived in Harrison Crescent, Swan Hill and had a young son named Nathan. Nathan was in the care of the Department of Human Services in a residential unit, attending a specialist school in Swan Hill. He suffers from a mild intellectual disability which gives him a cognitive age of approximately 6, and he has attachment disorder. He is currently aged 11. The mother abandoned the family when Nathan was a youngster of three.
At the time of your offending, you had been living with a relative in Bendigo, but you have spent most of your life living at the Namatjira Mission at Dareton in New South Wales. You have a daughter named Aisha who resides with her mother, and with whom you have no contact. You came to meet the deceased man as a result of him attending Swan Hill in relation to a matter involving the care and custody of his son Nathan. You two somehow met and you offered the deceased $20 to drive you back to Swan Hill, as you were, as far as I can understand it, on your way to Wilcannia to attend your aunt’s funeral. This meeting occurred on Wednesday, 21 September 2011.
The deceased drove you to Swan Hill and you stayed overnight on a mattress in the spare room at the rear of his house in Harrison Crescent. You left the next day and walked to the home of your niece, Alicia Shepherd, who also lived in Swan Hill. You stayed there for approximately a week and then told your niece you intended travelling on to your aunt’s funeral in Wilcannia.
On Tuesday, 27 September 2011, you left and walked to the home of your friend Kim Mitchell who also resided in Harrison Crescent, Swan Hill; the same street as the deceased. She lived there with an uncle, a son and her daughter, as well as another young female, aged 15, who had been living there for approximately three weeks. You brought with you a cask of white wine to be shared with your friend Kim Mitchell.
During your discussions with your friend Kim Mitchell, and after you told her that the deceased had given you a lift from Bendigo to Swan Hill, she told you that the deceased was gay and that she owed him money which had led to some issues between them. During this conversation, you became angry and said ‘that old cunt better not touch me or I’ll hurt him’. Kim Mitchell told you that she’d sorted out her issues with the deceased and was paying him back the money she owed.
The drinking that you had started that morning with Mitchell continued during the day, with at least 11 people attending over the course of the day sitting in the front yard of Ivan Krick’s premises and drinking. Krick had received his pension money and purchased two bottles of Jim Beam as well as two casks of wine. More alcohol was purchased and consumed later in the day and evening, but I am unable to determine what quantities were consumed by the various parties.
Whilst you were all still in the front yard, the deceased drove past in his white Toyota station wagon. You repeated your threats about him to different people who were also out in the front yard with you. You told Jasmin Kepa that you were going to ‘teach that person a lesson’ and that this person ‘shouldn’t do the things he was doing’. You told Patricia Mitchell ‘I’m going to do the old fella over’ and pointed towards the home of the deceased. Erica Smailes heard you say, ‘I’ll go up to the mother fucker and I’ll hurt him’. When she asked who you were talking about, you said ‘the old cunt up the road Gary’.
During the evening the group moved from the front of the premises to the kitchen, with music, alcohol and a large group of people. By approximately midnight that party had finished and most people had either fallen asleep or left.
Ivan Krick in his statement said that he woke to find you alone, drunk, sitting at the kitchen table with your head in your hands. When he told you to go and lie down on the mattress in the lounge and you didn’t, he asked you what was the matter with you and you responded, ‘Don’t worry he will pay’.
Krick said he believed you were referring to the deceased and you were upset because the deceased man was chasing Kim Mitchell for money. Krick told you it had nothing to do with you and to return to bed.
Erica Smailes said she got up at around 3am in the morning to get a drink and she saw you and Ivan Krick drinking in the kitchen and you were the only people still up. The accuracy of those times is of course debatable – large amounts of alcohol had been consumed and no great reliance can or should be placed upon them. They are relevant only to a matter in issue to which I shall shortly refer. You, at some point, left your friend Kim Mitchell’s place and walked down to the deceased’s house at the end of the street. You obtained a knife from the kitchen and stabbed the deceased in the lounge-room of his premises. You stabbed him multiple times to the head, face, neck, chest and arms.
The best description that could be given is that it was a violent, frenzied and continuing attack. The knife itself broke off after it was imbedded in the deceased’s right eye. You also picked up a large porcelain horse statue and dropped it downwards upon the head of the deceased. It broke into smaller pieces with some pieces ending up quite some distance away, and even in other rooms. You then stole the deceased’s motor vehicle and drove to Dareton in New South Wales where you abandoned the vehicle in scrubland. The car was heard departing by a neighbour from the premises of the deceased at 3am in the morning and he also observed the tail lights as the vehicle drove away.
The cause of death of the deceased was injuries to his head and chest, and in summary those injuries can be listed and have been by the Crown in the following way:
1)A large number of injuries present over the body, including injuries that cause substantial damage to bone.
2)Fracture damage to bone on the outer and inner tables of the vault of the skull. Fracturing on the right-hand side of the skull.
3)Damage to ribs on both sides of the chest with sharp severing of the bones 4 and 5 on the right side of the chest. Consistent with these injuries were stab wounds to the chest on each side.
4)A substantial bone injury to the right eye socket and the right side of the nose that exited the floor of the skull and entered the spine. A considerable quantity of bone was damaged and severed in the course of this injury and two portions of broken knife-blade were identified within the skull along this wound path.
5)There was a large quantity of blood within the lungs and stomach which had been caused by a stab-wound to the front of the face.
6)There were deep penetrating stab injuries in respect of the lower head and neck.
7)A large number of incised injuries on the wounds and in particular on the right hand.
8)Substantial bleeding into the chest which was a result of chest wall wounds.
9)Numerous blunt head injuries associated with skull fractures indicating considerable force.
Finally, the conclusion that the extensive nature of the injuries to the body resulted from very considerable amount of blunt force trauma, such as the crushing of the statue on his head, as well as considerable sharp force trauma, that is with a knife.
The body of the deceased was discovered as a result of his failing to appear for an access visit with his son, Nathan. Calls were made which went unanswered and on Thursday 29 September 2011, the day after his death, DHS notified the police about their concerns. Police then attended and discovered the body.
The photos which were tended in evidence make it clear that there was a very large volume of blood of the deceased in the lounge-room area consistent with a violent frenzied attack.
On the day of the murder after you arrived at the Namatjira Mission Station and told friends what you had done, being that you had stabbed a male in Swan Hill who had tried to interfere with you whilst you were asleep. You demonstrated to them exactly what you had done. You stayed the night at your friend’s premises and the next day got a lift into Mildura. You made further admissions to your sister-in-law and her partner whilst you were in Mildura.
You were not arrested until Sunday, 2 October, when you were cautioned and given your rights and taken back to Mildura’s police station. Before anyone from the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service had arrived you were taken out so that you could have a cigarette, and you then commenced to make admissions and, ultimately, those admissions were recorded. You again gave a demonstration, told the police that you were very sorry about what happened, but that he had sexually assaulted you. You told the police the location of the knife, the car and your bloodstained jumper – all of which were accurate.
In relation to the issue of whether or not you had been sexually assaulted by the deceased man, that is exceedingly difficult to work out on the material. It has been raised as a mitigatory matter and, accordingly, you need to satisfy me on the balance of probabilities that such an assault did take place. The only material supporting such an assault occurring are your statements to the police, it is trite to say that sexual assaults rarely take place in public and they are committed without doubt in secret. However, there are other matters which are inconsistent with you having been sexually assaulted or attempted to be sexually assaulted by the deceased. These include the observation of you in the early hours of the morning at Kim Mitchell’s premises being awake and drinking in the kitchen with Ivan Krick, combined with the observations of the neighbour of the deceased’s vehicle being driven away at 3am in the morning. Your different statements to the police and to Dr Sullivan about what occurred during the sexual assault and your earlier threats throughout the day towards the deceased prior to attending at his premises which makes it more unlikely that you were going down to have a friendly glass of wine and a smoke with him as you stated to the police in your interview. Combined with your denials to the police that you made any threats at all towards the deceased prior to attending at his premises that night. What you said to the police during your record of interview about this can be found at questions 436ff of your record of interview[1]:
[1]at page 204ff of the depositions
Question 437: But did Gary turn up and have a drink at Kim’s?
Answer: No. They don’t talk any more cos…
Question 438: Ok.
Answer: Kim and them owe him money and that…
Question 439: Yes.
Answer They rip him – yeah they rip him off…
Question 440: That’s what I’m talking about.
Answer:Yeah, yeah but yeah, yeah like I wouldn’t. He didn’t like them because they keep on using him for his things.
Question 441: It’s been suggested to us and people have made statements…
Answer:Yeah.
Question 442: That throughout the night you were actually talking of going around and getting Gary, fixing Gary up or having a go at Gary.
Answer:No, no, no. Me and … once we met one another we was good friends.
Question 443: But people are making statements to say that you were making threats or talking to them…
Answer:Na, that was Kim.
Question 444: About going there to fix Gary up.
Answer:Nah, nah, nah I wouldn’t do that nah.
Question 445: I’m being up-front with you.
Answer:Yeah, I know.
Question 446: Now, people have signed up to.
Answer:I, I wouldn’t just go and kill someone…
Question 447: Statements…
Answer:Just for they fucking fantasy…
Question 447: Well…
Answer:Whatever.
Question 449: I don’t think they use the word kill but certainly go and get him…
Answer:Yes.
Question 450: And fix him…
Answer:No.
Question 451: Words along those lines.
Answer:No. Cos they didn’t like him, they reckoned he was a paedophile and I didn’t think he was. I knew he was bisexual cos he told me.
Question 452. Yeah.
Answer:Yeah. So we got on really fine.
Question 453: I don’t think his sexuality was an issue. He he didn’t.
Answer:No, no it wasn’t.
Question 454: Conceal that.
Answer:That’s right.
Question 455: Yeah.
Answer:Yeah. It – it didn’t think me either.
Question 456: But if people are telling us that you were threatening to go there, fix him up, get him or go him that’s totally different from the account you’ve.
Answer:No but I’ve…
Question 457: Been giving us on the interview here.
Answer:Nah. Nah its nowhere different like that. I’m straight out. I just told youse what happened. So.
Whilst I do not accept, on the balance of probabilities, that any sexual assault, or attempted sexual assault actually occurred, I am satisfied that you genuinely believe that something like that either happened on the night or at some earlier stage. You admitted to the police that you were still drunk, very drunk, when all of this happened and that you thought you had stabbed him three or four times. You told the police, and I accept, that you had been sexually abused as a child, which is dealt with in your record of interview[2] where you say in answer to questions:
[2]Questions 374 ff depositions page 197 ff
Question 374: And I’m sorry you know I don’t feel like a murderer but if someone do me wrong.. I like that ..sexual I won’t muck around.
Question 375: Yeah, just going back to that and I again I realise it is difficult for you to talk about it.
Answer:Yeah.
Question 376: And I thank you for talking to me about it…
Answer:Yeah.
Question 377: So far.
Answer:Yeah.
Question 378: It’s obvious you get emotional about it.
Answer:Yeah.
Question 379: But what, when you say that Gary came into the room and you felt him beside you, was there any penetration at all?
Answer:Yeah. That’s why I done it.
Question 380: So tell me about that.
Answer:He was on top of me while I was choke. (I interpolate choke in this means sleeping.) And I just got up and I said you better run you mother fucker and he run, he run into the lounge and he went like that and he laid and that’s when I just I grabbed the knife and run him real fast and hit him like that and I said ‘Don’t ever’ but that’s what happened.
Question 381: Alright. How quick.
Answer:How quick it happened.
Question 382: I can see that from what you’re telling me you were upset about that.
Answer:Course.
Question 383: Yeah. What was going through your mind at the time?
Answer:I’d been mucked around with when I was only 7. My mother’s old bloke used to muck around with me you know and I’m not going to take that from no man. I was only a kid at you know and that’s just it. He made his wrong mistake and I made the mistake of killing him. And I don’t judge no one for nothing.
It may well be that the others with whom you’d been drinking earlier that night referring to him as a paedophile had in some way has caused you to imagine that there was a sexual assault of some type. Whilst, as I say, I do accept that you now genuinely believe he sexually assaulted you, I am not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that such a sexual assault did occur. However, this makes little difference in my view to the sentence that ultimately will be imposed upon you. It is clear that you worked yourself up to a degree of anger as a result of the animosity that you developed to this man which appeared to result from information you received, including references to him being a paedophile or as you put it to Steven Payne a ‘rock spider’. The anger was fuelled entirely by the alcohol and whatever substance you ingested in the form of tablets, that were given to you. The combination and the result were lethal. You have, it would appear, conflated incidents that occurred to you when young with what you were told about the deceased and become extremely angry and hostile. Let me add, that even if you had been sexually assaulted in the different manners you have described, it would not have justified your horrific beating and stabbing to death of this man.
I have received two victim impact statements in this case. One is written on behalf of Peter Beggs’ son, Nathan written by Andrew Lavery, a child protection practitioner based in Mildura. He has been Nathan’s case manager for the last three years and speaks on his behalf, as Nathan is unable to verbalise the impact of his father’s death upon himself. As indicated earlier, he has the cognitive functioning of a six year old. In the statement he makes it clear, that although Nathan had been highly unlikely to be returned to the care of his father due to a number of severe protective concerns, it was obvious from his observation of their interaction over the years, together with that of others who had the care of Nathan, that there was a genuine, true bond of love between the deceased man Gary Beggs and his son Nathan. Whilst the deceased had many personal issues that caused him to not to be able to parent Nathan in the way he wanted, he had been basically the only love and affection, of an ongoing nature, that Nathan had in his life. Nathan’s mother left when he was around three years of age and the deceased raised Nathan, as a sole parent, from the age of three until the age of 8, at which stage he entered into the care system. His father had regular supervised access and Nathan, according to the impact statement, looked forward to his visits a great deal. When access was unable to occur, Nathan became distressed. Unfortunately, that is now a permanent situation for Nathan. He has regressed and is very difficult to manage. He is displaying behaviours that were not evident earlier, since learning of his father’s death. It is clear, from the report of Mr Lavery, that this poor child is unable to go through any of the normal expressions of grief or stages in the processes of grief, but his loss is no less acute. This was a father and son who loved each other, despite all of the problems that they both had in their lives. Nathan no longer has that love and that is a real tragedy. I also received a victim impact statement from his brother, Peter Beggs, who resides in Austria. He describes a process of reactive depression that has arisen as a result of the loss of his brother. I have read his statement and I have taken its contents into account.
I also have to take into account your personal circumstances and history. Your counsel indicated that your ethnic background is Aboriginal, Afghani and Irish but you appear to have lived entirely as an Aboriginal, as one of the Barkindji People. You were born in Broken Hill, one of nine children with you being the youngest. You believe you have four brothers and four sisters. Your parents are both deceased. Your mother died of cancer when you were aged around 11 and your father, in approximately 2009, with complications from diabetes. In the information you provided to Dr Danny Sullivan, which was part of a report tended as Exhibit 4 on the plea, you told him that you had not attended secondary school, but your counsel informed me that you had almost completed Year 10 and that you could read and write, although it would appear with some difficulty. Mr D’Arcy related an incident of you looking at his writing and explaining, that you cannot read that running writing, only the printed type. You attended primary schools at Mission Schools, first in Wilcannia and, secondly, in Dareton.
In the Crown opening it referred to the fact that you lived on the Namatjira Mission at Dareton in New South Wales and attended Dareton Ceoomealla High School to Year 10 before you left school. There appears to be some form of conflict between the reliability and accuracy of your background, and there is no doubt that you are a poor historian, in terms of relating information about yourself and your history.
You have worked only part-time and seasonally. You described yourself as a seasonal worker, involved in woodcutting, grape picking, fruit picking and predominantly lived around the Namatjira Mission area. You had a previous relationship, from which there was a 16 year old daughter Aisha, but you have no contact with her and no other information about your relationships was provided.
In respect of your upbringing, it would appear that you came from a violent home, particularly your father when intoxicated, which was a very common occurrence. You also informed Dr Sullivan that your older brothers were equally violent towards you. In respect of the sexual assault, to which you referred in your record of interview, you reported to Dr Sullivan that this occurred when you were aged around 11 and that it was your mother’s boyfriend who then put his finger into your backside, which was the only sexual abuse experience that you were willing to talk about, and Dr Sullivan described you as being clearly uncomfortable discussing these matters.
You’ve had a previous seizure which is thought to relate to perhaps alcohol use or the withdrawal of alcohol. You’ve had arthritic knees but otherwise you are in surprisingly good health. You started using alcohol at the age of 17 and by the age of 18 you were dependent upon it as demonstrated by you having the morning shakes. You described your daily intake as being eight litres of cask white wine, usually moselle.
You have previously been involved in alcohol withdrawal treatment through Warrakoo Station in about 2008, this was a program set up by, and run for, Aboriginals with alcohol and drug problems. You were a child who sniffed petrol from the age of 7, although you claim it was not daily use, it was of sufficient regularity to be of concern. You have tried amphetamines, ecstasy, LSD and, like most young people, cannabis. You ceased using cannabis some time ago, as you described it as’ messing with your mind’, but Dr Sullivan described it as bringing on bouts of paranoia.
Your account to Dr Sullivan about the alleged offences varies quite markedly, in terms of what occurred in the alleged sexual assault, to what you have specifically told the police in your interview, including matters such as you didn’t get out of bed straight away and that the deceased man was pulling himself, rather than what you told the police of lying on top of you, that he changed his clothing and matters of that nature.
You are currently in custody in Melbourne in the Waxenby Unit at Port Phillip, and have become involved in English lessons, attending twice a week and also have become quite involved in Aboriginal art. You had previous involvement in art and you had successfully sold your paintings at one stage of your life. However, all of your family are located in New South Wales and, accordingly, you have had no family visits, or anyone else, apart from professionals. It means that you have not had any visitors with whom you could personally interact in the time that you have been in custody, which is in excess of 400 days to date. It is your wish, and I would expect it will be accommodated, that you be transferred to New South Wales so that you can be accommodated in a prison somewhere that is at least a little closer to your relatives and family, and it may mean you are not totally isolated from the people who care for you.
In his opinion and recommendations, Dr Sullivan stated at paragraph 36:
36.At the time of the alleged offence Mr Williams was intoxicated and had attended the house of the victim who was slightly acquainted with him. Witness statements preceding alleged events suggested that Mr Williams had expressed anger and hostility towards the man on the basis of his sexuality if he should engage in sexual action towards Mr Williams. Evidence from other parties on the basis of reports provided by Mr Williams subsequent to the alleged offence noted that Mr Williams alleged that he awoke to find Mr Biggs engaging in some form of sexual activity in his vicinity and believed that he may have intended to have sex with him. Mr Williams also stated that he then chased Mr Biggs took a knife and stabbed him.
37.Mr Williams describes a history of sexual abuse as a child which may have resulted in hostile attitudes towards homosexuals. Although his account of the alleged offending is not witnessed it is possible that Mr Williams reacted with disproportionate anger to a putative advance from Mr Beggs due to his own reported history of childhood sexual abuse.
38.Of relevance to the offence as alleged is the degree of intoxication of Mr Williams, which was contingent on his severe alcohol dependence.
39.At the time of the alleged offence it appears that Mr Williams capacity to think clearly or make calm and rational choices was reduced by his intoxication. He was likely disinhibited. I consider that his intoxication was causally associated with the offence.
40.There is no indication that any other mental disorder was associated with the alleged offence.
Your dependence upon alcohol is clearly the most significant factor in this offending. That, together with what appears to be a genuine concern and fear you hold of being sexually abused, whether it occurred or not, which combined with very poor impulse control, has led to the loss of life of Mr Beggs.
It is a sad and tragic situation for all concerned – for Mr Beggs and his young son Nathan, a total tragedy. This poor child, with all of the problems and impairments from which he suffers, will now also suffer the loss of the one person who truly loved him. You will spend a great deal of your life in prison. Mr Beggs’ brother no longer his company and Mr Beggs has lost his life. All of these things are tragedies and attributable, to a very large degree, to your abuse of alcohol. Whilst you are in prison you are likely to be, in the main at least, alcohol free. It is what happens to your life after you are released that should cause you great concern. The decimation of the Aboriginal people as a result of introduced substances such as alcohol and drugs does not need repeating, it is a tragedy, it is a stain on us as a nation and it appears we are all unable to find an answer to this insidious evil. Imprisonment is not an answer or a cure for dependency, persistent intervention, in the form of repeated rehabilitation at a much earlier stage, may possibly have avoided the tragedy with which I am dealing today.
There are many factors I have to take into account when sentencing a person for the crime of murder, and, in your favour, is your plea of guilty, which I accept was at a relatively early stage on the basis that a committal was conducted on legal advice to test the issue of defensive homicide.
I accept, equally, that you are remorseful. Your expressions of remorse have continued from the time you were first intercepted, through your confessions to the police and to what you said to me in court on Monday. Whilst they may not be the most articulate, I do accept that they are genuine and that you really do regret the death of Mr Beggs.
I take into account what can only be described as a dysfunctional and deprived childhood and early adulthood with sexual abuse; inhalant abuse as a child, carried on to alcohol and drug abuse as an adult. You have spent a significant proportion of your adult life in prison, and unfortunately that is something that must continue because, apart from those factors to which I have referred, I equally have to take into account the need for general and specific deterrence, which, in your case, I find is a necessary factor, further that there be a just and appropriate penalty imposed, denunciation, whilst ensuring that the sentence is not crushing.
Taking all of those matters into account, in relation to Charge 1 – the charge of murder – you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 17½ years. In respect of the charge of theft of a motor vehicle you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 3 months. I direct that both sentences are to be served concurrently. I further direct that you are to serve a minimum of 14½ years imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole.
I declare that you have served 494 days pre-sentence detention and such should be noted in the records of the court.
I make the disposal order and the DNA retention order as requested.
I declare pursuant to Section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act that the sentence I would have passed but for your plea of guilty would have been 20 years with a minimum of 17 years.
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