A publication ban on a young woman’s name has been lifted after no appeal was filed with the courts following her being sentenced to six years in jail in Supreme Court in New Westminster in April.
Langley resident Michelle Motola, 21, was sentenced to six years in a federal prison for her part in the killing of Langley’s Marc Bontkes.
Originally tried as a youth, the Supreme Court judge decided to impose an adult sentence on Motola, who was just shy of her 18th birthday at the time of the killing.
Despite being sentenced as an adult, a publication ban on the woman’s identity remained in place for 30 days, to allow her time to consider appealing her sentence.
A query with the Court of Appeals did not turn up any appeals on behalf of Motola.
Bontkes’ parents, siblings and other loved ones filled nearly two rows of a B.C. Supreme courtroom in New Westminster to hear the judge’s sentence in April. The accused also had some family present. The room was very quiet as the judge read out his sentence.
Motola had spent 20 months behind bars since her arrest in July 2010.
The judge sentenced her to 72 months but credited her 30 months for time served (1.5 months for every month she has spent in jail) so she will spent 42 months behind bars.
On top of not being able to release her name for 30 days, there is also a publication ban on the judge’s reasons for sentencing. This is because there is still a jury trial to come in Bontkes murder.
Three people were arrested and charged in his murder.
Roy Michael Thielen, 33, has already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case, as well as in the related killing of Laura Lynn Lamoureux. He is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 20 years.
A third accused, Robert David Bradshaw, is expected to go on trial in September. He is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Motola was initially charged with one count each of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. After working with both lawyers, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in early February.
Bontkes, 33, was found shot to death outside a parked mini-van in a parking lot of Hi-Knoll Park, on the Surrey-Langley border, on March 19, 2009.
His murder, as well as that of Lamoureux’s, which took place just five days earlier, were related to the street-level drug trade, said police at the time.
Motola was not charged in connection with Lamoureux’s murder.
Bontkes founded Designmarc Homes, in Langley. He is the son of prominent Langley developer Robert Bontkes of Benchmark Group of Properties.
Bontkes wasn’t known to police, but his family later said he was doing hard drugs at the time of his murder. He left behind a wife and a young son.