SASKATOON – Blake Jeffrey Schreiner’s second-degree murder conviction for fatally stabbing his wife more than 80 times while their three-year-old son watched, was upheld on Nov. 7 by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
Schreiner had appealed his June 2021 conviction and life sentence with no parole eligibility for 17 years. His lawyer at trial in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench had argued that he wasn’t criminally responsible for stabbing 39-year-old Tammy Brown to death because he suffered from schizotypal personality disorder.
Court of Appeal Justice Neil Caldwell, in concurrence with Justices Lian Schwann and Jeffery Kalmakoff, said Schreiner’s trial wasn’t unfair and 17 years of parole ineligibility wasn’t demonstrably unfit in the circumstances of the murder.
“The murder involved an attack on a sleeping victim awoken by the first of approximately 80 stab-wounds that ended her life after a brief defensive struggle that was witnessed, in some part, by her three-year-old son,” said Justice Caldwell in his written decision.
“The victim’s dying utterances were directed toward her child,” said Justice Caldwell adding that he agreed with the trial judge that this was a “particularly heinous” killing.
He also ruled that the trial judge didn’t err when determining a fit period of parole ineligibility.
“In my assessment, 17 years of parole ineligibility is not demonstrably unfit in the circumstances of this murder and given Mr. Schreiner’s culpability for its commission,” said Justice Caldwell.
According to court documents, about two years before the homicide, Schriener lost his job and started abusing alcohol and drugs. His behaviour strained his relationship with his spouse and by early 2019 they were in the process of separating. At the time of her murder, he was no longer living with her or their children.
At his wife’s invitation, he went to their home on Jan. 29, 2019, and later that evening when everyone was asleep, he stabbed her to death in her bedroom and their three-year-old son witnessed some of it.
Schreiner confessed to the murder in phone calls to family members and a 911 operator. He surrendered to police and willingly gave a warned statement admitting to killing his wife.
At the time, he didn’t exhibit behaviour that showed concerns about his mental health. But after his arrest, while he was on remand, because of his behaviour towards a cellmate, the court ordered a psychiatric assessment at Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford to determine if he was fit to stand trial.
Schreiner told his mental health assessment team that he feared his wife was going to set him up to be a pedophile to gain custody of their children. He also told them, “if he could not have the children, then neither could his wife,” court heard.
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