15 years before parole for Sudbury killer in gas station stabbing death

Kyle Smith, a 36-year-old Sudbury man, must wait 15 years for parole for the second-degree murder of Patrick McGregor, 30.

Kyle Smith, 36, won’t be eligible for parole for 15 years. That’s after the Sudbury man was found guilty of second-degree murder in the September 2021 stabbing death of 30-year-old Patrick McGregor.

The judge in the case handed down his sentencing on Friday.

It was February 2025 when a Sudbury jury found Smith guilty following a three-week trial. It was during the court case heard testimony that Smith and McGregor were known to each other. McGregor had sold Smith drugs, but Smith wanted a chain back he had given him.

The two had driven to a gas station on Lasalle at Notre Dame. An altercation ended when Smith stabbed McGregor in the neck while he was driving his car in the parking lot. McGregor got out of the vehicle and was then run down by that same vehicle when Smith got behind the wheel.

Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence. Smith was also found guilty of dangerous operation causing bodily harm. That five-year jail sentence will be served concurrently with the life sentence.

On Friday, Justice Alex Kluke ruled Smith won’t be eligible for parole until he’s served 15 years behind bars. He will also have a 10-year ban on driving, a lifetime ban on firearms and must submit a DNA sample to the national database.

Smith was given an opportunity to speak to the court and read from a paper from the prisoner’s box.

He said the incident ‘will haunt me till the day I die’ by the incident, adding he ‘was truly sorry’ and if he ‘could take it back’ he would.

“Drugs ruined my life,” Smith told court.

“Addiction is a horrible path to walk.”

“There’s nothing I can do to change what happened… I have to live with this the rest of my life,” he added.

Kluke said he accepts Smith’s remorse and believes it to be sincere; however, he called the incident a ‘brutal, senseless act.’

“This was a vicious killing,” the judge told the court during his sentencing. Although he did say some credit must be extended to Smith for his remorse as well as pre-trial conditions since Smith was in lockdown a total of 1.5 years while in pre-sentence custody.

Following the sentencing decision, Kluke wished Smith ‘good luck’ on moving forward to become a contributing member of society in the future.