At the end of this month it will be seven years since Amy Sands, who also went by AmiJane Marshall, was shot and killed in a garage while hanging out with friends.
On Aug. 1 Jesse George Hill, the man convicted with manslaughter in Sands’ death, finished his sentence and was released from prison after as many as four parole violations. Sands’ parents, Ed and Debbie, said it was a difficult day.
“It's a totally unfair sentence, but it wouldn’t matter if it was 50 years, it wouldn’t bring our daughter back,” said Debbie. “Our legal system doesn’t do justice to the victim’s life.”
Amy Sands was shot when a bullet meant for her on and off again boyfriend was shot through the garage door struck her. Just prior to the shots being fired, Hill had come to the main door of the garage and threatened to come back armed. He admitted to coming back armed with a pellet gun and said an associate had a rifle.
Hill was charged with murder, but convicted of manslaughter, and received an eight-year sentence that was reduced to four years and nine months with time served. No one else has been charged in Amy’s death.
“The time-and-a-half for time served was a bit of an insult,” Ed said. “He got six years and 11 months from the time he was arrested.”
Hill did not apply for early parole and was let out of prison on statutory release in early 2018. Since then he’s had several parole violations and been moved from prison-to-prison.
Ed said Hill was in prison when his sentence ended and that it is unlikely he is rehabilitated.
“I question the ability of the system to do rehabilitation because he got moved around so much,” he said. “He didn’t have a chance to get rehabilitated.”
Hill admitted to the parole board that he developed an opiate addiction in prison. He spent time in in-patient treatment, but was removed from one for drug use and later had a suspected drug overdose at another facility.
After being moved back into prison, Hill requested a move into segregation, which prison officials believed was due to drug and gambling debts. Hill denied the allegations and said it was because there was “money on his head.”
The Sands say they don’t know exactly why he was moved so much from prison to prison, but that it seemed Hill was getting into trouble with other prisoners.
“A comment that showed up a number of times was voluntary transfer to maintain prisoner security,” Ed said
Ed and Debbie said they believe Hill is still a threat to the public.
“It's a concern for the general public that he will reoffend,” Debbie said.
The couple said they kept busy the day Hill was released to avoid thinking about it, but say it continues to be difficult to deal with their daughter’s death.
“Birthday, Christmas, anniversaries, every Aug. 31 and other events we go to the cemetery and we are reminded she is no longer here and wasn’t able to fulfill her proper potential,” Ed said.
Debbie said a new grandson has brought joy to their lives. She also continues to do book signings of the book she wrote about her daughter’s struggle with borderline personality disorder, A Moth to the Flame, and enjoys talking with other families coping with similar situations. They both continue to be active in Okotoks theatre, as well.
However, they agree that it is the love they receive from their community that has kept them going.
“A support system is important,” Debbie said. “We have to thank all of Okotoks, our friends, our family, our theatre family.”
