More than five years after Likely area resident Gary Price was reported missing by his family, the man convicted of his death and indignity to his remains was sentenced.
58-year-old Guy Smith was sentenced in Williams Lake Supreme Court Friday morning to 11 years in prison after receiving a consecutive sentence of 7 1/2 years for manslaughter and 3 1/2 years for interference with a dead body.
Outside of the courtroom, Price’s brother Bill Price and brother-in-law Russell Reese said they were happy that Smith did not get away with it.
“It was good to see that the system did actually work,” they both said.
“Maybe not all the time but it did work. We feel especially with the way the police handled it and the judge and the prosecution, it was great.”
In sentencing Smith, Madam Justice Church said there was the absence of specific evidence regarding the circumstance of the unlawful act of manslaughter and the mental state of the offender at the time of the offenses.
“I tend to agree with Defence Counsel submissions that it is difficult to assign a level of moral rendering in Mr. Guy Smith because of the type of case and the lack of information. Having said that it is difficult but not impossible.”
Church said in order to determine Smith’s moral blameworthiness which would determine his length of sentencing it is necessary to draw inferences from the facts from the trial.
“In my view, Mr. Smith’s moral blameworthiness is relatively high, and this court must denounce his conduct by sending a message to like-minded individuals that serious crimes of violence will attract serious consequences,” she said.
“Guy Smith demonstrated complete disregard to Mr. Price and his family by desecrating his body and concealing his remains such that it was not discovered for a period of time. The discovery of Mr. Price’s remains after 19 months and the state of those remains further exacerbated the pain and loss suffered by Mr. Price’s family.”
Smith who appeared by video for sentencing has been in custody since May 2015. With credit for time served his time of imprisonment will amount to 2,036 days-a little over 5 1/2 years.