A Stratford teen has been convicted of manslaughter after a 27-year-old Exeter man was stabbed in Grand Bend earlier this year amid the start of the busy beach season.
A single stab could mean eight to 12 years in prison for a teenaged Southwestern Ontario father.
Initially charged with second-degree murder, Michael Compton, 18, of Stratford pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to the reduced charge of manslaughter in the May 13 slaying of Zachary Hartman, a 27-year-old Exeter man.
Compton, a concrete worker and father of a three-year-old son, stabbed Hartman once in the chest amid a fight between four men that Friday night in a parking lot behind a popular beach-area bar.
Compton and two of his friends then fled for the Stratford-area town of Mitchell in a white SUV – his toddler was also in the vehicle at the time – while Hartman was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead within an hour. Compton’s two friends also faced charges for Hartman’s death, but those were dropped following Compton’s guilty plea.
Compton’s criminal defense lawyer, Scott Cowan, explained to Postmedia outside the courtroom how the plea deal came together.
“It was the result of hard work and a mutual understanding that this was a sudden unfortunate event that unfortunately took the life of a young man,” he said.
Compton’s case was adjourned to March to get a pre-sentence report. Neither Cowan nor assistant Crown attorney David Nicol indicated in court what sentences they plan to ask Justice Krista Lynn Leszczynski to impose, but about a decade in prison seems likely.
“The cases for manslaughter in this type of factual pattern seem to attract sentences between eight and 12 years. Mr. Nicol, the Crown, and I will be making our best pitches by looking at other precedents and our submissions on the unique factors of this case,” Cowan said afterwards.
The case’s unique factors were mostly unknown prior to Tuesday since Lambton provincial police released few details about the confrontation in the popular Southwestern Ontario community near the start of its busy beach season. Through the court, though, more details finally became public.
Compton, Evan Radtke, 22, of Stratford and Madison Hicks, a 21-year-old Mitchell resident who was dating Radtke, went to the beach earlier that day. Hartman, who went to high school in Clinton and college in Sarnia, and his friend, Tyler Grant, were also there. The two sets of friends did not know each other, but all of them were drinking throughout the day.
Compton and his friends went to Willie’s Beach Bar but headed to a nearby parking lot on Huron Street at around 9:30 pm to look for Compton’s lost cellphone. Grant and Hartman were there at the same time, and a frustrated Compton heard Hartman and Grant mock him and call him a derogatory name.
The four men started yelling at each other before the fight turned physical.
“Michael Compton then pulled a knife and stabbed Zachary Hartman in the chest,” Nicol said while reading an agreed statement of facts. “Michael Compton was heard by witnesses saying, ‘I just stabbed him. We need to go.’”
Compton, who turned 18 just three months prior to the killing, showed no emotion as he sat in the Sarnia courtroom’s prisoner’s box wearing all white clothes with his dark brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.
The court heard Compton and the couple got in the SUV and fled, but police found the trio on Waterloo Street in Mitchell about 90 minutes later and performed a high-risk takedown. Officers found blood on Compton’s pants and hands, and more blood where he’d been sitting in the SUV. A white pinstriped jersey he’d been wearing earlier that night was also covered in blood.
The knife was never found.
The trio was arrested and initially charged with assault with a weapon. Radtke was later charged with second-degree murder after Hartman died while Hicks was charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder. The couple was granted lease in early June, although they were barred from talking to each other or going back to Grand Bend.
Compton never applied for bail and has been held in the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center since the night Hartman died.
“It’s been an anxious time, but he is dealing with this maturely and responsibly,” Cowan said Tuesday.
Compton may be granted bail briefly for a single week so he can spend some time with his young son.
“Being able to reconnect with his family before spending many years in jail is a really key component to his dignity,” Cowan said.
Three people, all Compton’s family members, were in the physical courtroom Tuesday while the majority of interested parties, including Hartman’s family, watched via Zoom.
The incident sparked an outpouring of shock and grievance from close friends and neighbors and on social media. Conservative MP Lianne Rood, whose Lambton—Kent—Middlesex riding encompasses Grand Bend, offered condolences to the family in Parliament a few days later and praised the actions of emergency responders.