Meth-house murder trial ends early after 3 accused plead guilty to lesser charges

A first-degree murder trial that was supposed to last three weeks ended after just three days when the men accused of the crime pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Brendan Bo Severight, 27, Luke Blair Moar, 34, and Ryan Ralph Flett, 28, were charged in the beating death of Trenten Jeffrey Balonyk, 38, inside a Sherbrook Street "trap house" on Jan. 17, 2017.

The three men pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and their jury trial in Court of Queen's Bench started on Monday, but on Wednesday, they each entered guilty pleas to lesser charges.

Severight pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, while Moar and Flett both pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

In an agreed statement of facts, Severight was described as the person in charge of a meth-selling operation inside the house. Moar worked for Severight, while Flett frequented the house.

Reading from the statement, Crown attorney Monique Cam said Balonyk was killed by the three men on Jan. 17, after he went to the house and an argument broke out.

Balonyk ran out of the second-floor suite and down the stairs, pursued by Moar and Flett, who caught up to him and started beating him. Severight came down and joined in, hitting Balonyk with the butt of a shotgun, while another man hit Balonyk with a baseball bat until he lost consciousness.

Severight then told Moar and Flett to take Balonyk back upstairs. He was bound with duct tape and an electrical cord, and beaten unconscious with a baseball bat, Cam said.

The beating continued and Balonyk died from repeated blunt-force trauma to the head. The three men then left his body hidden under a futon mattress with junk piled on top of it, where it remained until it was discovered on Jan. 19.

Balonyk was essentially "bound, beaten and discarded" by the three men, Cam said, noting that police found the victim under a mattress in the house two days after he was killed.

A sentencing hearing for Severight has been set for Feb. 25, while Moar and Flett will have their sentencing hearing on Feb. 26.