After nearly a year in custody, Eric Mearow is once again a free man — walking out of the Sault Ste. Marie courthouse yesterday after his preliminary hearing came to an abrupt end before it really started.
Mearow and co-accused Travis Parsons faced attempted murder charges stemming from a shooting that took place on May 29 of last year in the 200 block of Beverley Street.
The victim suffered serious injuries after being shot in a residence, police reported at the time. A second person was assaulted and threatened at another home on the same west end street.
In addition to attempted murder, Mearow, 38, and Parsons, 41, were also charged with multiple firearm offences in connection with the incidents.
Mearow is a notorious figure in Sault Ste. Marie, well known to both police and the public.
Along with Dylan Jocko and Ronald Mitchell, Mearow pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his role in the high-profile killing and dismemberment of Wesley Hallam, who was stabbed during a drug-fuelled house party in January 2011.
The guilty pleas, announced in 2016, triggered widespread outrage in Sault Ste. Marie because it meant those responsible for Hallam’s death would only serve two more years in prison. Police had originally charged the trio with first-degree murder — which upon conviction carries an automatic sentence of life imprisonment — but the Crown ultimately settled on a plea deal because of concerns over “potential frailties” in the evidence.
Set free in 2017, Mearow was arrested yet again last June in connection with the Beverley Street shooting — but not before a manhunt that stretched over several days and propelled his photo back into the news. He remained in custody pending trial.
He and Parsons were back in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing, but the matter was adjourned to the following day because a key witness, as well as five other subpoenaed individuals, were not there.
Ontario Court Justice Heather Mendes issued witness arrest warrants.
On Wednesday morning, prosecutor Trent Wilson said “in spite of a good effort” police weren’t able to locate the key witness.
The Crown said he didn’t have evidence to call on the six counts before the court for the preliminary hearing. There was some evidence, but he didn’t have the needed identification evidence — an essential element of the case — because that witness wasn’t at court to testify.
Mendes “discharged” the two men on the six counts, which included the attempted murder and extortion using a firearm charges, because there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
A number of other charges were stayed.
Ariel Herscovitch, a Toronto lawyer who represents Mearow, called the discharges and stays appropriate.
He said his client has one outstanding, unrelated matter and is technically in custody on those charges. The Crown has agreed to a consent release, Herscovitch said.
Mendes sent that matter to bail court.
Wilson said Parsons, who had been released on bail, was recently arrested on new, relatively signficant charges.
Defence lawyer Don Orazietti told the court his client hasn’t applied for bail on the new charges.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mearow appeared in bail court on dangerous driving and flight from police charges, stemming from a May 6, 2022 incident.
Assistant Crown attorney Gary Knox said the accused had been detained in custody on the other more serious matters, which now have been stayed.
Justice of the Peace Jill Morris released Mearow with the two conditions sought by the Crown: he is required to report his address to the Sault detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police within 24 hours of his release, and must return to court on May 29.