BY KEITH LACEY
A Sudbury man will admit he stabbed his best friend to death before he?s sentenced for manslaughter Friday.
Northern Life has learned there will be no trial as Michael Burnett, 43, will plead guilty in the stabbing death of Keith ?Blue? MacDonald, who was
found covered in blood outside his Flour Mill apartment last Aug. 6.
Burnett was committed to trial on a charge of second-degree murder following a preliminary hearing, which just wrapped up a couple of weeks ago.
Burnett and MacDonald were ?lifelong friends? who apparently got into a verbal dispute that got physical and then extremely violent.
?My client was the best man at Mr. MacDonald?s wedding, he babysat his son and was his best friend for more than 20 years,? said Burnett?s lawyer Robert Beckett.
He confirmed his client will plead guilty to manslaughter Friday morning at the Sudbury courthouse.
?It?s just a very tragic event.?
Burnett has ?very little memory? of what happened, but has come to realize from evidence presented at the preliminary hearing that he was the person responsible for twice stabbing MacDonald near the heart, said Beckett.
Both men had been drinking the night in question, but blood alcohol levels taken of MacDonald showed he would still have been alright to drive a car legally in Canada, said Beckett.
?A case of beer had been ordered in and there?s clear evidence of alcohol being involved, but to what extent I don?t think we?ll ever know.?
The sentence for manslaughter runs anywhere from less than two years to life in prison.
