A Jamaican man sentenced to life in prison for an “execution style” killing north of Barrie in 2007 will get a shot at early release under Canada’s “faint hope clause.”
Sean Lenworth Anthony Spence didn’t pull the trigger, but he planned the murder of Jonathan Chambers over $52,000 Spence blamed him for losing in a drug deal Chambers arranged. Spence was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for kidnapping and killing Chambers, who had introduced Spence to buyers who pretended they were in the market for 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, but then paid with fake money and escaped with the drugs.
After serving more than 15 years of his sentence, Spence applied to Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice for a “faint hope” hearing before a jury so he can ask that his parole ineligibility period be reduced.
“While it is ultimately up to a jury to determine whether or not Mr. Spence may apply for parole sooner than the 25 years imposed as part of his sentence, I cannot say that his application is doomed to failure. On a balance of probabilities there is a substantial likelihood that the application might succeed,” Justice Mark Edwards wrote in a recent decision out of Barrie.
“Mr. Spence’s application is granted, and a jury shall be empaneled to hear his application.”
Chambers was killed March 7, 2007.
“Two vehicles were stopped on the side of a country road north of Barrie,” said the judge’s decision, dated June 18.
Spence was in one vehicle. Four individuals, including Chambers, were in the other.
“Mr. Chambers exited the vehicle and was then shot in the head by Andrew Turner. The two vehicles left the scene. Chambers was dead at the roadside. His body was discovered later that day,” Edwards wrote.
“Everyone in the two vehicles (was) eventually caught and charged. Three of the individuals pled guilty to manslaughter. One of the individuals pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder. Mr. Spence was tried on a charge of first-degree murder in a judge alone trial. He was convicted on that charge and sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25 years.”
The decision notes Spence had been sentenced to four years for a previous robbery where he used an imitation firearm and wore a disguise.
Spence successfully appealed that conviction, but the Crown took his case to the Supreme Court of Canada and won on Dec. 2, 2005, restoring his conviction.
However, Spence was out on bail, awaiting the Supreme Court decision, and he went on the lam. It wasn’t until September 2008 that he was arrested in the United States in connection with the killing of Chambers.
While Spence did not pull the trigger, his trial left “no doubt that the execution of Mr. Chambers was done at the direction of Mr. Spence. The killing of Mr. Chambers arose out of the loss of $52,000 that Mr. Chambers had caused, or had an inability to account for, to Mr. Spence,” Edwards said. “Mr. Spence developed a plan that effectively resulted in the kidnapping of Mr. Chambers and getting Mr. Chambers into a car and then ultimately to the site of his murder.”
In court documents, Spence often goes by the first name Lenworth, rather than his given forename of Sean.
Spence was “the driving force behind the drug deal that was catalyst to this murder,” reads a summary of the Crown’s position. “That Mr. Spence had a motive to kill as a result of the failure of said deal and that he ordered that Jonathan Chambers life be terminated as a way to save face and to send a message.”
Spence, 46, “is not a Canadian citizen and if he is released, he is subject to a deportation order,” the judge said in his recent decision.
Spence lived with his parents in Jamaica until he was 12, “when he moved to Canada to live with his grandparents,” Edwards said. “He was primarily raised once he was in Canada by his grandmother although he moved in with his father as a teenager.”
His 2024 “psychological risk assessment report indicates that Mr. Spence’s plans … would have him returning to Jamaica where his family apparently owns a farm controlled by one of his brothers. The same report indicates that Mr. Spence hopes to rebuild his life in Jamaica by working towards postsecondary education.”
Spence stayed out of trouble in prison.
“There is no evidence that he has ever been subject to periods of disciplinary segregation,” said the judge. “For all intents and purposes Mr. Spence has a clean discipline record which is in stark contrast to his criminal record prior to his incarceration.”
A psychological risk assessment from last year placed “Spence in the low moderate to moderate risk category for general recidivism in the high-risk category for violent recidivism. Mr. Spence had a long-standing history of criminal behaviour and had a violent criminal history leading up to the current offence that occurred when he was 27 years of age.”
Spence worked while in prison, furthered his education, and “has also participated in a number of programs aimed at his rehabilitation,” said the decision.
Spence “has been active in his religious faith and a letter from Imam Habeeb Alli, the Muslim faith chaplain at the Beaver Creek Workworth Institution notes as follows: ‘I am willing to engage with him on his understanding of the faith upon reintegration. Mr. Sean Spence is a caring person and remorseful of his previous crimes. I support him for faint hope clause as this will help them reintegrate into society as a law-abiding citizen earlier than the given date.’”
One of Spence’s guards at Beaver Creek, Shirley Osei, has worked with him for about three years.
“Mr. Spence is described by officers as a model offender who exemplifies good behaviour and follows all institutional rules and policies. Spence has remained incident and charge free since I started working on his unit and is not seen as being a part of the offender subculture,” Osei wrote in a letter of support.
“Lastly, I strongly believe that Spence is a motivated individual who is doing whatever it takes to rehabilitate back into society and to return home to his family.”
The court saw victim impact statements from Chambers’ father, mother, sister, and brother. “All of the statements speak to the continuing impact that the murder of Mr. Chambers has had on his family,” said the judge.
The victim’s mother, Nancy, told the court “Jonathan’s death left a void that can never be filled. How do you heal a broken heart is my question. The pain of losing him was heartbreaking. There is no escape from the memories of his absence from the holidays that he loved so much should have echoed, to the milestones he never reached. He was robbed of his future, and we were robbed of his presence.”
The court heard that “Crown counsel largely opposes Mr. Spence’s application for three reasons: the gravity of the offence; Mr. Spence’s lack of remorse; and the fact that Mr. Spence if released and deported would avoid a significant part of the sentence originally imposed on him and would have no supervision once he is deported to Jamaica.”
If Spence “is ultimately successful in his faint hope application and thus allowed to apply for early parole, the subject of deportation and any subsequent supervision are matters that the Parole Board of Canada will ultimately have to consider in relation to the risk to the public,” said the judge.
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