A Regina man convicted of a crime he committed 20 years ago has been sentenced.
After the rescheduling of a sentencing decision in May, Court of King’s Bench Justice Catherine Dawson announced Monday that the 37-year-old man would receive a youth sentence.
The man, who cannot be named due to having been under the age of 18 at the time of the crime, has been given a youth sentencing of seven years and will serve it in an adult penitentiary.
Last fall, the man was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Misha Pavelick, who was killed at a weekend campground party near Regina Beach, Sask., in 2006.
During the trial, the Crown and defence lawyers debated whether the man, who was 17 when he committed the crime, was mentally considered a child or an adult at the time. The defence argued for a youth sentence and the Crown argued the man should be sentenced as an adult.
The defence brought forth a psychologist who told the court the man still does not function at the mental capacity of an adult at 37 years old.
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Another factor is the man’s criminal record outside of the second-degree murder; he has been convicted of eight youth and 17 adult crimes. The Crown argued his record suggests the man showed no improvement in maturity since Pavelick’s death and therefore had “adult brain capacity” at the time.
The defence disagreed.
“It may prove that this was just who he was. But it also may prove that he just didn’t ever develop the way you’d expect an adult to develop,” defence lawyer Andrew Hitchcock submitted.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, a youth is presumed to have diminished moral blameworthiness for their actions. In order for the man to receive adult sentencing, the Crown would have had to completely counter this.
Dawson said the decision was a heavy burden, and while the seriousness of the crime is still relevant to the case, she determined the man would be sentenced under the Youth Criminal Justice Act due to having shown a lack of independent judgment, succumbing to peer pressure and a lack of impulse control, among other things.
The judge thanked Pavelick’s friends and family for their impact statements.
“No sentence that is imposed will bring back Misha. All that I can and must do is sentence according to the law,” Dawson said.
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