Man, 60, pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2018 Dartmouth death

A 60-year-old Dartmouth, N.S., man whose murder conviction was overturned on appeal has pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter in the case, admitting he stomped and kicked to death another man in an apartment unit seven years ago.

Gregory Maxwell Purvis made the guilty plea on Thursday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court to the charge related to the death of Derek Miles, 42, who was killed Jan. 18, 2018, at his residence on Pinecrest Drive in Dartmouth.

Purvis has been in custody since his arrest two months after the crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month, and could be released from jail if Justice Timothy Gabriel agrees to a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.

Prosecutor Rob Kennedy said the sentence recommendation is for about 11 years. As is typical, Purvis will be given a 1½ credit for the period since March 2018 that he's been held without bail, which means he will likely be freed on time served.

Purvis was convicted in 2021 of second-degree murder in the death, but that verdict was overturned by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal after it found the judge who conducted the trial made legal errors.

An agreed statement of facts read in court Thursday said Purvis's nephew, George Purvis, had been told that Miles had called him a "rat," a derogatory word for police informant. George Purvis picked up his uncle and another man and went to Miles's apartment.

Miles opened the door. There was a brief verbal exchange before Gregory Purvis began stomping and kicking him repeatedly. Miles died from internal bleeding after suffering eight broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a completely ruptured spleen.

Manslaughter plea

A conviction for second-degree murder, which involves the intent to kill, carries with it an automatic life sentence, with parole eligibility set by a judge. There is no minimum sentence for manslaughter, unless a firearm is used.

The prosecution accepted Purvis's guilty plea to manslaughter. In an interview outside the courtroom, Kennedy said the original trial was a "very challenging case" as there were a number of "unsavoury" witnesses whose co-operation has dwindled since then.

"Certainly, Mr. Purvis at this stage is willing to accept responsibility for the offence of manslaughter," he said in the interview.

"In all of the circumstances, given the amount of time he's been in custody and the relative strength of the Crown's case at this stage, the Crown accepted that resolution proposal." 

Among the witnesses was George Purvis, a mid-level drug dealer who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison, and testified at Gregory Purvis's trial.

Miles had been trafficking marijuana and hashish for George Purvis, but was busted by police in late 2017. There was subsequent speculation about who had tipped off authorities.