Former Halifax Alehouse bouncer found guilty of manslaughter in bar patron’s death

A former Halifax bouncer has been found guilty of the killing of a bar patron three years ago.

A former Halifax bouncer has been found guilty of both manslaughter and criminal negligence causing the death of a bar patron on Christmas Eve almost three years ago.

Alexander Pishori Levy, 40, was accused of choking Ryan Sawyer, 31, outside the Halifax Alehouse on Dec. 24, 2022.

Justice James Chipman delivered the guilty verdicts Wednesday morning at Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax.

“On all of the evidence, I find that Mr. Levy was overzealous and deployed a disproportionate, violent mechanism to subdue Ryan Sawyer and ultimately cause him to go into cardiac arrest and die,” the judge said when delivering his decision.

“What began as a rather minor disturbance inside the Alehouse quickly escalated, primarily owing to Mr. Levy’s disproportionate response. Rather than de-escalating the situation, Mr. Levy ramped things up and used extreme violence to ultimately subdue Ryan.”

Twenty witnesses, including 19 Crown witnesses, testified at Levy’s trial last month. They included first responders, Levy’s former co-owners from the now-shuttered Halifax Alehouse, bouncers, witnesses who captured cellphone video, as well as Sawyer’s twin brother and his cousin.

The lone defence witness was Levy, who testified in his own defence.

During the trial, court heard that Levy had asked Ryan Sawyer and his brother Kyle to leave the Halifax Alehouse, and things escalated when he escorted them outside the bar.

Levy testified that he squeezed Sawyer’s neck for 10-to-15 seconds, but the Crown argued it was much longer than that, closer to two minutes, when considering witness testimony and video footage.

The defence had asked the judge to consider a self-defence argument and noted Levy had used the “rear-naked chokehold” on bar patrons about 100 times before.

Chipman sided with the Crown, stating he did not believe Levy’s testimony, and found his actions that night to be “unreasonable.”

“Mr. Levy’s direct evidence came across as over-rehearsed, rather like he was attempting to give a perfect recollection (including precise time estimates) of various events,” said Chipman.

“To the extent that Kyle and Ryan posed a threat immediately after they were ejected, this soon changed when they were each brought to the ground. Furthermore, at the point after he had been subdued by Mr. White, Ryan was no longer a threat to anyone.”

Chipman said Levy’s decision to deploy the rear-naked chokehold was “completely without justification” and he found Levy had compressed Sawyer’s neck for roughly two minutes.

“On all of the evidence, I find that this was a beyond-transient hold that was significant and dangerous such that it caused Ryan’s death,” said the judge.

‘Reasonable state of shock’

Defence lawyer James Giacomantonio said, while it was not the outcome Levy hoped for, he feels his client received a fair trial and the judge’s decision was “well-reasoned.”

“That was his decision. It was a factual decision, and he certainly rejected my client’s version of events,” said Giacomantonio.

As for Levy, Giacomantonio said he’s in a “reasonable state of shock” and “processing a very difficult moment in his life.”

Giacomantonio said it’s too soon to say whether they will be appealing the decision.

Levy will be sentenced on April 24.

As for sentencing recommendations, both the Crown and defence said it’s too soon to say what sort of penalty they’ll be seeking.

“There’s a wide range of sentences available for criminal negligence causing death and for manslaughter, so we’ll be looking at the appropriate authorities,” said Giacomantonio.

“We’ll do a case law search, we’ll take a look at other cases across Canada and then come up with a recommendation that we think is fair given the circumstances,” said Crown attorney Melanie perry.

“It’s a very serious case obviously and ultimately there aren’t any winners here.”

‘Nobody wins today’

Sawyer’s parents, Scott and Lee Sawyer, said they’re grateful to see “justice has been served.”

Meanwhile, they’re going to continue fighting for mandated training for bouncers.

“We’re going to push forward and we’re not going to stop until the premier of Nova Scotia recognizes that this needs to be done and it needs to be done with proper regulation,” said Lee Sawyer. “They need to be regulated, and that’s for all security.”

“I would say nobody wins today. We’ve lost a son, and we also had a son badly beat up,” said Scott Sawyer. “We’re not going to have this moment or what has happened to Ryan define us going forward. We’re going to be strong for Ryan.”

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Callum Smith

RELATED STORIES:

• ‘He could overpower me’: Former Halifax bouncer testifies in his own defence at trial
• Crown closes its case in former Halifax bouncer’s manslaughter trial
• ‘They attacked me’: Halifax bar owner recalls what former bouncer told him about fatal encounter

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