Saskatchewan woman weds convicted killer behind bars

Weddings usually take place at a church surrounded by family and friends. This wedding was held at a federal prison surrounded by guards and a warden.

Sherri Gordon (née Maier) held her wedding at the Saskatoon Regional Psychiatric Centre on June 23, not because she liked the scenery but because her new husband is an inmate.

Her new husband, Bronson Gordon, is a maximum-security prisoner. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after being convicted of murder.

Sherri has been a prisoner advocate for almost 10 years, and advocated for her husband while he was on remand during his prison sentence. She said she had known Gordon prior to his incarceration.

“He had chased me for a few years, and I always said no, but then about 4 1/2 years ago, I decided to do this. He was already behind bars and I had met him prior to his incarceration,” Sherri said.

She said many people attended the wedding.

“The warden came. The big regional director, he couldn’t come, but he ended up sending someone to come,” she said. “All (Gordon’s) treatment team came. It was good.”

Sherri believes there’s a lot of stigma surrounding prison wives.

“I’m very open about my wedding,” she said. “I’m very open about my relationship because there are a lot of prison wives in Regina, there are a lot of prison wives across Saskatchewan (and) there are a lot of prison wives across Canada, but a lot of them don’t want to come out and share their story because of the stigma.

“When I first came out, people used to say, ‘How are you a prison wife? You’re educated, you’re smart, you’re not addicted to stuff.’ That’s a stereotype. There’s a lot of prison wives that I’ve met across Canada that were educated. I’ve seen some that are psychiatric nurses. Some of them are investment bankers.”

Sherri believes her husband is a good man and is innocent of the crimes he was charged with.

“Yes, he got convicted of something not good, but I believe in his innocence 100 per cent and I do believe that very soon he will be walking through those prison gates,” she said.

Gordon was convicted of the murder of Reno Lee, a rival drug dealer who was kidnapped and held by armed men for several hours in Regina with his hands and feet bound by duct tape and zip ties.

Lee was later shot twice in the head at close range with a small-calibre firearm. His body was then dismembered and transported to the Star Blanket First Nation, where it was disposed of.

Gordon and his two co-accused appealed their convictions, but those appeals were dismissed in November of 2020.