Gregory Maxwell Purvis was awaiting retrial on charge of second-degree murderPublished Jun 12, 2025 • 3 minute readGregory Maxwell Purvis arrives at Dartmouth provincial court in March 2018 to face a charge of second-degree murder in the killing of Derek Miles that January. Purvis pleaded guilty Thursday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax to the lesser offence of manslaughter. Photo by File photoA second man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the January 2018 stomping death of Derek Miles.Gregory Maxwell Purvis, 60, of Dartmouth was awaiting a retrial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in January 2026 on a charge of second-degree murder.Purvis entered the guilty plea on the lesser offence of manslaughter Thursday at the Halifax Law Courts.Justice Timothy Gabriel accepted the plea after an agreed statement of facts was read into the record by Crown attorney Rob Kennedy.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentGabriel scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 18. Kennedy said he and colleague Will Mathers will join defence lawyer Quy Linh in recommending a sentence of time served.Purvis was arrested in March 2018 and will have been in custody for seven years and four months by the time he is sentenced. With remand credit, that equates to a sentence of 132 months, or 11 years.According to the agreed facts, George Purvis was at home in West Chezzetcook on the evening of Jan. 18, 2018, when he received a call from an associate saying that Miles had called him a “rat,” or a police informant.George Purvis immediately drove his truck into Dartmouth and picked up his uncle, Greg Purvis, and another man, Murray Timmons. They then drove to Miles’s apartment on Pinecrest Drive in north-end Dartmouth. They did not advise Miles they were coming. Derek Miles, 42, died Jan. 18, 2018, after he was assaulted at his apartment on Pinecrest Drive in Dartmouth. Photo by ContributedThe three men exited the truck and entered the apartment building. The two Purvises went upstairs to Miles’s apartment while Timmons waited on a lower landing.Article contentGeorge Purvis knocked on the door. Miles, who was alone in the apartment, opened the door and there was a brief verbal exchange between the three men.Miles was knocked to the floor inside his apartment or fell down, the facts say.While Miles was on the floor, Greg Purvis “repeatedly stomped and kicked him in the head, chest and abdomen with significant force. The assaults . . . caused multiple internal injuries, including eight rib fractures, a collapsed lung and a completely ruptured spleen.”The three men then left the apartment building together.Miles, 42, was discovered dead in his residence the next afternoon. He died from internal bleeding caused by blunt-force trauma.“Greg knew that his assaults on Derek could cause serious bodily harm or death,” the agreed facts read.He later confessed his involvement in the killing to an acquaintance.Article contentGreg Purvis, George Purvis and Timmons were all arrested in March 2018 and charged with second-degree murder.The charge against Timmons was withdrawn in January 2019. George Purvis pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a six-year sentence in February 2019.The younger Purvis, now 37, was the key witness for the Crown at his uncle’s trial. A Supreme Court jury found Greg Purvis guilty of second-degree murder in April 2021, and he was sentenced later that year to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 14 years.But Greg Purvis appealed his conviction, arguing the trial judge, Justice Denise Boudreau, made numerous errors of law in her instructions to the jury.He also claimed the judge erred by allowing a partially redacted video recording of his lengthy police interrogation into evidence without holding a voir dire on the admissibility of its contents, and he alleged ineffective assistance of counsel, primarily in relation to not testifying in his own defence.In a May 2024 decision, a Nova Scotia Court of Appeal panel agreed with Purvis that the trial judge had made errors but dismissed his claim of ineffective counsel.“In my respectful view, the trial judge committed reversible errors of law,” Justice Anne Derrick wrote for the three-member panel. “I would allow the appeal . . . and order a new trial on the charge of second-degree murder.”Article content
Dartmouth man pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2018 stomping death
