In a Toronto courtroom today, Robert Robin Cropearedwolf pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of our friend, journalist Michael Finlay. His sentencing hearing will be held on July 15 before Justice David Porter, who will ultimately hand down the sentence.

Michael died on January 31, 2023, a week after he was shoved to the ground on the Danforth in east-central Toronto, breaking two ribs on a seasonal planter and suffering a pneumothorax. Mr. Cropearedwolf was subsequently sought on a Canada-wide warrant, and turned himself in to police on February 28, 2023. He has been held without bail ever since.

I haven’t written a news-style story like that in years. I wish Michael was still with us, and that I wasn’t writing one now.

Michael was a one-time print journalist who spent most of his storied career at the CBC. Here’s a link to a story I wrote about him last year. An obit. I’m not sure I believe in closure, or that the hurt caused by a violent death ever ends, but I’m happy to see a verdict, at least

Please see the latest update on Cropearedwolf’s sentencing hearing here.