Two accused found guilty of first-degree murder in biker slaying

Published Jan 09, 2025  •  3 minute read

A 2021 photo from the Ontario Provincial Police of Greg Slewidge, who was found dead in September 2020. Michael Clairoux and Lee Marrazzo were convicted of first-degree murder in Slewidge's death. Photo by Ontario Provincial Police /Handout

Two friends who stood trial in the strangulation and stabbing of biker Gregory Slewidge were swiftly convicted of first-degree murder by the jury charged with deciding the case.

The jury returned verdicts of guilty against Michael Clairoux and Lee Marrazzo on Thursday afternoon at the Perth Courthouse, ending a two-month trial after less than one full day of deliberations.

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Ontario Superior Court Justice Judge Brian Abrams thanked the jurors for their work.

Clairoux, 50, of Nepean, and Marrazzo, 41, of Luskville, Que., face life in prison since first-degree murder carries with it an automatic penalty of 25 years without eligibility for parole.

Court heard that two masked men — one holding a length of yellow rope and the other a gun — slipped into a rural industrial building on Scotch Corners Road in Beckwith Township on the afternoon of Sept. 23, 2020, and attacked Slewidge. The building housed Slewidge’s legal marijuana grow-op.

The following day, Slewidge’s body was found on the floor of the building with the nylon rope wrapped three times around his neck and a knife in the middle of his back. He had $2,410 in his pocket.

Slewidge, 39, the father of a nine-year-old girl, was days away from becoming a full-patch member of Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

Defence lawyers Diane Magas and Paulo Giancaterino both suggested Slewidge could have been killed by the Hells Angels as some kind of message. But video evidence presented in court convinced the jury that the two masked killers were Clairoux and Marrazzo.

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Although the men had tried to obscure their faces, they were obviously unaware that the grow-op’s old video surveillance system was recording them in high definition as they entered the grow-op and left it 15 minutes later.

The Ontario Provincial Police initially had few leads in the case, but investigators scored a breakthrough when a forensic officer discovered the digital recorder in the grow-op’s attic, which was accessible only by ladder.

Investigators were able to connect the images it recorded to Clairoux and Marrazzo. They then went about building the case against the men by linking them to what could be seen in the video: articles of clothing, shoes, hairstyles, moles.

Defence lawyers picked holes in the Crown’s circumstantial case — there was little or no direct evidence against the two men — but the video spoke for itself.

“It is unbiased and unflinching,” Crown attorney Matthew Humphreys said of the security footage during his closing argument to the jury. “The cameras captured all of the details Mr. Clairoux and Mr. Marrazzo failed to hide because they didn’t think it necessary.”

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Humphreys told the jury the man holding the yellow rope in the video was clearly Clairoux since they shared the same skin and hair colour, the same stature, body type, hairline, jawline and neck markings: a mole and freckle.

What’s more, he said, three pictures entered into evidence proved Clairoux owned the same baseball hat, which advertised Tijuana Sweet Heat Tequila, worn by the killer in the video. Evidence also established that Clairoux owned the same kind of sneakers, key chain and chrome-knuckle gloves worn by the killer.

During the two-month trial, Clairoux testified in his own defence and flatly denied being involved in the murder. He said he was in an Ottawa wood shop at the time.

As for Marrazzo, the Crown attorney listed 11 pieces of evidence that tied Marrazzo to the crime, including security video of his “unique Mohawk-style haircut,” beard and facial features. What’s more, Humphreys said, Marrazzo owned a black Cadillac CTS, a model consistent with the car driven to and from the murder scene.

Giancaterino, Marrazzo’s defence lawyer, suggested cellphone records supported his client’s contention that he was in Ottawa at the time of the murder.

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The motive behind the killing was never clearly established in court. It was the Crown’s theory that Clairoux and Marrazzo were enlisted by another friend, a member of the Red Devils Motorcycle Club, to kill Slewidge, a former club member, because of some kind of personal feud.

The origins of that feud remain murky.

The victim in the case is the son of Lyndon Slewidge, the former OPP officer who often performs the national anthems at Ottawa Senators’ home games in his thunderous baritone. The entire Slewidge family faithfully attended the trial.

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