On Friday night, May 30, 1997, a lawyer directed investigators from the Metro police homicide squad to an apartment. In the bathroom they found the body of James Edward Detzler, 54.
The lawyer acted for Steven Todd Craig, 26, of Dundas Street East. The apartment was Craig’s home, the Globe and Mail later reported. Craig appeared in old city hall court early on Saturday, May 31, charged with first-degree murder.
Detective Mike Davis of the homicide squad said Detzler likely died between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28. “The cause of death is consistent with drowning,” he said. A pathologist was conducting further investigations, the Toronto Star reported.
The Star’s first report called her James Edward Detzler. She was known as Gracie. The Star’s brief on the verdict in October 1998 named her James “Gracie” Detzler, and the Toronto Sun in 2003 called her Gracie Detzler.
Detzler had been in court before. On November 28, 1990, the Star reported that James Detzler, 47, of Parliament Street, had been sentenced to five years for stabbing a man who refused to have sex with her. The Star called her a “repeat offender.” She had pleaded guilty earlier that month to aggravated assault before Judge Derek Hogg.
Detzler and Craig had met while both were serving long penitentiary terms, the Globe and Mail reported.
Craig’s trial opened in October 1998 before Mr. Justice Harry Keenan of the Ontario Court’s General Division. Craig pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and guilty to manslaughter. Crown attorney Paul McDermott rejected the plea and went to the jury on first-degree murder. In his opening address, the Globe reported, McDermott called a statement Craig made to police “a confession to much more than manslaughter.” He suggested the evidence would show that Detzler was sexually assaulted and beaten before drowning in the bathtub in Craig’s home.
In a videotaped statement to Davis on May 30, 1997, the Globe reported, Craig said he had “freaked out” and hit Detzler repeatedly after she “came on to me.” He told Davis, “As you know, he’s a homosexual.”
On Thursday, October 22, defence lawyer Eric Lewis, cross-examining a police witness, read portions of two psychiatric reports on Detzler. The reports had been prepared after her conviction for aggravated assault. They portrayed her as having stabbed a lover in the lower back in a fight over whether to have sex.
One report described an antisocial personality disorder. The Globe wrote that it traced all of Detzler’s assault convictions to “confused sexual perceptions” and said the subject “sees himself as a female in a male’s body.” It tied her violence toward other males to being “denied sexual favours.” The other report said, “He or she hates men because they take advantage of him or her.”
The Globe’s report ran under the headline “Slain man had violent past, trial told.” Its first paragraph said the victim was described in court as “a would-be transsexual with a violent past.”
Craig’s explanation was an unwanted sexual advance. Through the reports, Lewis put Detzler’s sexuality and her history of violence before the jury.
At the end of the Crown’s case, the judge directed an acquittal on the first-degree murder charge, the Globe reported. That left the jury of eight women and four men to decide only whether the offence was manslaughter or second-degree murder. It accepted Craig’s plea of guilty to manslaughter. The Globe and the Star reported the verdict on October 29. The Star said sentencing was set for November 20.
The two briefs described the case differently. The Star called the victim “an acquaintance” and said she was found nude, her face submerged in a bathtub of water in Craig’s apartment. The Globe called her Craig’s “former lover.”
The Globe reported the sentence on December 23. Mr. Justice Keenan imposed ten years for manslaughter after being told that Craig had spent his entire adult life either in prison or on parole and had been out of prison only three weeks when Detzler died. A psychiatrist, the Globe wrote, had described Craig as having an “explosive personality.”
McDermott called for a sentence of at least 12 years. Keenan rejected his suggestion that he consider a life sentence. Lewis argued for three years, in part because Craig had spent 17 months in pretrial custody. Keenan allowed no credit for that time. For nearly all of it, the Globe reported, Craig had been serving the balance of a sentence for robbery, his parole having been revoked after he was charged in Detzler’s death.
Keenan agreed with McDermott that Craig was “a danger to society.” Based on evidence the jury did not hear, he said, Detzler’s death was “not accidental.” He had ruled inadmissible a statement to police in which Craig admitted that Detzler was handcuffed when he assaulted her. The jury had heard nothing of Craig’s record, the Globe noted. It did hear of Detzler’s violent past, including the near-fatal wounding of a male lover.
Craig declined to address the court before sentence. As guards led him out, he began to struggle with them. He saw Detective Sergeant Michael Davis of the homicide squad in the public gallery and shouted, “You’re next, you [expletive] pig.” He then turned on the two guards, one of whom was female, and kept yelling profanities as they tried to control him.
On August 27, 2003, the Ontario Court of Appeal granted Craig’s appeal and reduced his sentence to seven years, the Toronto Sun reported the next day under the headline “Court grants killer appeal.” The Sun’s subhead read “Transsexual lover.” It said the court found Keenan “unnecessarily harsh.” Keenan had based the original sentence on a videotaped statement in which Craig said he handcuffed Detzler before killing her. The jury never heard that statement, the Sun reported, because Keenan ruled it inadmissible. It had been made to police without Craig’s lawyer present. The court also said Keenan should have given Craig credit for seven months of pretrial custody, and it cited his upbringing in multiple foster and group homes.
According to the Sun, Craig testified that he killed Detzler because of an unwanted sexual advance, but evidence showed his sperm was found in her.
The record disagrees with itself in places. Detzler appears as James Detzler, James Edward Detzler, James “Gracie” Detzler and Gracie Detzler. The Star’s report of June 1, 1997, put the discovery of the body on Friday night, May 30, and the death on Wednesday night. In October 1998 the Star put the discovery on May 28. The Globe gave May 30 for both the discovery and the death. Craig was 26 in the Star in 1997, 27 in the Globe in 1998 and 31 in the Sun in 2003, and the Sun dated his conviction to December 1998. The Star called the homicide officer Detective Mike Davis. The Globe called him Detective Sergeant Michael Davis.
Vital statistics
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Gracie (James Edward) Detzler; named in the papers as James Detzler, James Edward Detzler and James “Gracie” Detzler |
| Age | 54 |
| Gender | Female |
| Date of death | May 28, 1997 (Toronto Star, citing police; the Globe and Mail gave May 30) |
| Manner of death | Drowned after a beating (Toronto Sun: beaten, strangled and drowned) |
| Location | Craig’s apartment, 280 Dundas Street East, Toronto |
| Accused | Steven Todd Craig, 26 (27 at trial per the Globe and Mail) |
| Charge | First-degree murder |
| Defence counsel | Eric Lewis |
| Crown counsel | Paul McDermott |
| Judge | Mr. Justice Harry Keenan, Ontario Court (General Division) |
| Verdict | Manslaughter (directed acquittal on first-degree murder; jury accepted Craig’s guilty plea to manslaughter) |
| Sentence | 10 years, reported December 23, 1998; reduced to seven years on appeal, August 27, 2003 |
Sources
- The Toronto Star, November 28, 1990, p. A20
- The Toronto Star, June 1, 1997, p. A6
- The Globe and Mail, October 23, 1998, p. A5
- The Toronto Star, October 29, 1998, p. B2
- The Globe and Mail, October 29, 1998, p. A14
- The Globe and Mail, December 23, 1998, p. A3
- Toronto Sun, August 28, 2003 (online, canoe.ca; as reproduced in the Cdn-Firearms Digest, vol. 6, no. 417)
- Housecreep, 280 Dundas Street East listing (street address only)
Murder Village Map
*We include Gracie Detzler’s birth name for genealogical searches.
I’m working on my Step Mother-in-law’s family tree. She told me about her uncle/aunt James Edward/Gracie and told me stories. It’s so messed up that he only got 10 years