Confessed Calgary killer one-step closer to her sentencing hearing

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Confessed killer Megan Elizabeth Springstead has finally reached the front of the line at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre, court was told Thursday.

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A sentencing date for Springstead has been delayed several times, as doctors at the psychiatric center had deemed her a low priority for a risk assessment. Springstead has been convicted of manslaughter for helping her then-boyfriend kill their roommate.

But defense lawyer Kirstin Lancee said counsel have received a letter from Dr. Yuri Metelitsa indicating “Ms. Springstead has finally been entered into the program.”

Lancee asked Justice Pat Sullivan to adjourn the case to Aug. 19, to set a sentencing date once they have the court-ordered risk assessment done.

When Springstead’s case was in court two weeks ago, Crown prosecutor Doug Taylor said the admitted killer remained a low priority at the medical facility.

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At the time Taylor said it was the third time the case had been called in criminal appearance court to set a sentencing date since Springstead pleaded guilty last November to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the killing of Mahmoud Ahmed Aburashed.

The prosecutor suggested he and Springstead’s lawyers might come to an agreement on a suitable sentence for Springstead, alleviating the need for the report, but Lancee said no consensus has been reached.

Springstead, 35, had been charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 13, 2019, killing of Aburashed. She admitted helping Allen James McCabe, who plead guilty to second-degree murder, tape the victim‘s arms and legs after he’d been assaulted by her boyfriend in a dispute over a $450 drug debt.

Aburashed died of asphyxia either through manual strangulation or pressure being applied to his neck with an object, such as a crowbar.

McCabe, who was originally charged with first-degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a minimum of 10 years.

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