Michigan man can’t apply for parole until 2048 for murdering his Windsor wife

A Michigan man convicted of murdering his estranged wife proclaimed his innocence as he was sentenced. CTV’s Michelle Maluske reports.

Brian Marbury, 47, was convicted in October of first-degree murder by a Windsor jury and sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The clock starts as of June 2023, when Marbury was first arrested.

The jury found he killed his estranged wife, Sahra Bulle, 36, in May 2023 inside a Huron Church Road motel.

Before his trial started, Marbury pleaded guilty to a single charge of causing an indignity to a human body.

Video surveillance shown to the jury showed Marbury carrying what appeared to be a body over his shoulder and walking towards a woodlot.

Bulle’s body was discovered in a shallow grave on June 8, 2023.

‘She was alive’

Marbury spoke Tuesday, for the very first time in court; he didn’t testify on his own behalf during the trial.

He didn’t address the judge, rather turned halfway towards the Bulle family.

He described Sahra as a “special person” who was very “gifted” and who’s death is a “tragedy.”

“The family just really deserves to know that....” Marbury paused “...when I went to sleep, Sahra was alive. When I woke up in the morning, she was not alive. That would be my story today and that’ll be my story on judgment day.”

Defence lawyer Ken Marley won’t comment on Marbury’s statement made Tuesday in court.

Bulle’s mother, Fartumo Kusow told CTV News after court she was not surprised by Marbury’s comments, and they had wondered what he would say about his actions.

They do not believe he has any remorse for the death of Sahra.

“You have to feel you have done something wrong or committed a crime to feel remorseful,” Kusow told the media. “It just that shows you the lack of not only remorse, but the lack of appreciation of the magnitude of the, of the harm he had unleashed.”

A ‘scourge’ on society

Justice Ian Leach’s sentence decision took nearly two hours to read.

While providing a brief summary on the evidence in the case, Justice Leach referred to Marbury’s actions as “shockingly inhumane” for a husband to show such “horrendous disrespect” to his wife in death.

“We can say it again, and again, and again. There is no excuse for domestic violence. None. Whatsoever,” Justice Leach said.

Court learned Marbury declined to speak to a probation officer about the murder specifically, for fear it would jeopardize a potential appeal of his conviction and sentence.

It’s not clear if he will appeal or not.

Joint submission on sentence

A conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance to apply for parole until 25 years have been served.

After a lengthy sentence decision, Justice Ian Leach agreed with the joint submission made by Marley and the Assistant Crown Attorneys on the indignity charge.

Marbury’s DNA will be added to a database, and he will have a ten-year ban on owning legal weapons when he is paroled and a lifetime ban on illegal gun ownership.

He was ordered to not communicate with the Bulle or Kusow families while under a custodial sentence.

Marley said his client will likely be deported after he is paroled.

Family members wearing purple

Nine people presented Victim Impact Statements for the court; many took the opportunity to thank police for solving the crime and judicial staff for the convictions and most are wearing purple sweaters with Bulle’s picture on it.

“Look at her,” Bulle’s aunt, Roqayo Kusow said to Marbury, holding up her purple sweater. “I pray to Allah to stab her image in your head and in your heart, so your conscience will kill you every single day.”

The sweaters also have a quote: "What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love," by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Bulle’s mother, Fartumo Kusow, told CTV News the quote is from her daughters favourite novel, which is also the last gift she ever received from her.

“Not ever knowing what happened the night Sahra was killed will remain a mystery to us,” Bulle’s sister-in-law Alexandra Soumalias told the court. “It will be a part of our family history that we will never know and there’s only one person on this planet who chooses every day not to give us that peace of mind.”

“I wish I could have saved Sahra from this violent man,” David Ennis told the court. “It’s hard to move on with my life and I pray Sahra gets justice.”

Ennis and Bulle had recently started a friendship in the weeks before her murder.

“Her kindness and forgiveness were taken advantage of by her own husband and he treated her like garbage to be taken out,” Bulle’s sister Samira Bulle read to the court, while looking directly at Marbury.

Sahra’s brother, Abdi Bulle called Marbury’s actions “callous and unforgivable.”

“You’ve created a cascade of misery and grief and it just ripples through my family and yours,” Sahra’s other brother, Mohamud Bulle said.

Several of the family members referenced the grief of not being able to properly bury Bulle’s body in accordance with their Muslim customs and faith.