Second-degree murder convictions for Meika Jordan killers

One by one they entered the courtroom to hear a decision which took nearly four years to arrive.

Close to 100 supporters of six-year-old Meika Jordan, the little girl with the blonde hair and an ear-to-ear smile, packed a Calgary courtroom Wednesday afternoon to hear the verdict in her case.

The gallery was so full, the media were placed in the jury box.

Across the room, her accused killers, father Spencer Jordan and stepmother Marie Magoon, entered as silence fell over the room.

Justice Rosemary Nation took 40 minutes to explain her decision, ultimately finding them guilty of second-degree murder in her death back in November of 2011.

Brian and Kyla Woodhouse share a kiss after the verdict

Nation said the Crown had failed to prove the element of unlawful confinement, but did prove the two were co-participants in the brutal homicide.

Their acts of violence included burning her hand with a lighter, repeated blows to her stomach and head and dragging her up and down stairs causing head injuries.

Tears of disappointment followed for mother and stepfather Brian and Kyla Woodhouse, but after consulting with Crown prosecutors, the crowd eventually applauded to the decision.

“Second-degree isn’t what we wanted, but ultimately, guilty is guilty,” Brian said. “They lose a few years of their life, we lost her.”

Kyla echoed the sentiment.

“Whether it was first-degree, second-degree, regardless, as long as it came down to a guilty verdict, we get our justice for her and that’s what we’ve been striving for, for the last almost four years now,” she said, adding she felt numbness up until Nation ultimately gave the ruling.

“And then just a flood of all the different emotions at once,” she said. “We were nervous, we were excited, some anger, some frustration, but again when it comes right down to it, guilty is guilty.”

Jordan and Magoon showed no emotion throughout Nation’s remarks, while Brian had to restrain himself.

“I wanted to yell, I wanted to scream, I wanted to be obscene and go right across that courtroom,” he said. “What it boils down to and what my exact sentence and sentiment was, was that it does not matter the degree that you are charged with, guilty is guilty and you’re both child murderers.”

The convictions mean the duo now face life sentences with no chance of parole for at least 10 years, but Crown prosecutor Susan Pepper said they will be seeking the maximum eligibility of 25 years and sentencing has been set for Sept. 18th.

“Because of the heinous nature of the facts in this case,” Pepper said. “The oral judgement from Justice Nation, she did say what she found as fact and those facts that she found are very heinous.”

“We will be taking those facts and using that to argue that the period of parole and eligibility should be at the significant end, at the high end of the scale.”

Magoon’s lawyer Allan Fay said he wasn’t surprised, but was disappointed.

“Any party going into a process like this has certain expectations and hopes, the Crown expected and hoped for a conviction in the first-degree, they were disappointed, I hoped for manslaughter, I was disappointed,” Fay said.

After hearing Spencer Jordan was being beaten in remand because of the publicity of the case, Kyla Woodhouse replied simply.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” she said.