Widow in tears after killer granted absolute discharge

Widow in tears after killer granted absolute discharge
Date: Nov 22, 2006 2:12 PM
PUBLICATION: The Chronicle-Herald
DATE: 2006.11.22
SECTION: Front
PAGE: A1
BYLINE: Beverley Ware South Shore Bureau
ILLUSTRATION: Jeffrey Arenburg arrives at the Royal Ottawa Hospital
underpolice guard in 1995 to determine his fitness to stand trial in the
shooting death of sportscaster Brian Smith. Mr. Arenburg, who was found
not criminally responsible for killing Mr. Smith, was granted an
absolute discharge this week. (File)
WORD COUNT: 567

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Widow in tears after killer granted absolute discharge

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BRIDGEWATER - Alana Kainz cried all day Monday.

Five days earlier, she had driven 14 hours to sit at the same table as
the man who killed her husband, Ottawa sportscaster Brian Smith.

She wanted to tell the Ontario Review Board she suffers every day
because Jeffrey Arenburg took a gun and shot her husband in the forehead
11 years earlier.

She was shocked when the Crown attorney called her at home Monday
morning to say the board had given Mr. Arenburg, formerly of
Newcombville, just outside Bridgewater, an absolute discharge.

"My grief does not have an absolute discharge or even a conditional
discharge," she said in an interview Tuesday. "It's a life sentence
and
it has been very painful for me for the last 10 years."

Mr. Arenburg was found not criminally responsible for killing the
popular television personality because he suffers from paranoid
schizophrenia and psychotic schizophrenia.

He has been a patient at the mental health centre in Penetanguishene,
Ont., since 1997 but has been living with his brother in Barrie, Ont.,
since 2003.

Dan Parle, spokesman for the hospital, said the hearing last week was a
standard annual review. It was held in the maximum-security Oak Ridge
division where Mr. Arenburg was first sent in 1997.

The board determined Mr. Arenburg no longer poses a significant risk to
the public.

The review board's decision means the 49-year-old no longer has to
report to a caseworker each month, is no longer required to see a
psychiatrist or to be subjected to urine tests and is no longer banned
from owning firearms.

He has no criminal record for the killing because he was never convicted
of the crime, and Ms. Kainz said she's scared.

"My concern is, he can do whatever he wants, travel wherever he wants,
and he doesn't even need to check in with a caseworker."

Mr. Arenburg went to CJOH, the television station where Mr. Smith
worked, the evening of Aug. 1, 1995, because he thought the station was
broadcasting messages into his head. He did not target Mr. Smith, but
the personable sports anchor was the first personality he recognized as
Mr. Smith stepped out into the parking lot after the 6 p.m. show and Mr.
Arenburg shot him.

Mr. Smith died 18 hours later.

Mr. Arenburg had been convicted three years earlier of assaulting the
general manager of CKBW in Bridgewater. He believed the radio station
was broadcasting his future thoughts.

Mr. Arenburg didn't show up for his trial because he had moved to
Ottawa. A warrant was issued but never acted upon and Mr. Arenburg was
convicted in absentia. He was fined $300 but he was not ordered to seek
psychiatric help.

Mr. Arenburg still has immediate family, including an ex-wife, in the
community.

He returned to the area for his mother's funeral in 2000. He has two
daughters and told the review board he wants to move to Alberta to
rekindle a relationship with his oldest daughter.

Ms. Kainz said she misses her late husband's ready smile and quick wit
every day. "We had a great life and it got better every day."

"It's about your soulmate. Brian was my soulmate," Ms. Kainz said.

The ensuing years have been difficult. She had a hasty failed marriage
to millionaire Michael Potter, the former CEO of Cognos Inc., and became
a heavy drinker in 2004.

Ms. Kainz now co-chairs the Ottawa Integrated Drugs and Addictions
Strategy and is speaking to teens this week as part of National Drug and
Addictions Awareness Week.

She said her husband continues to live on through the Brian Smith
Foundation, which helps underprivileged children take part in sports.

The foundation also renovated the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, which
has been renamed Camp Smitty.

She said her husband also lives on in a far more tangible way. His last
interview was with baseball legend Mickey Mantle, who spent six minutes
talking about the importance of organ donation.

Twenty minutes later, Brian Smith was shot. His liver, kidneys, heart,
eyes, bones and lungs saved four people and improved the quality of life
for 10 others.( 'My grief does not have an absolute discharge or even a
conditional discharge. It's a life sentence.'



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