Tim Petruk, Kamloops This Week
There could be another months-long delay in the sentencing of a Salmon Arm man who admits he shot to death a romantic rival more than eight years ago as legal applications are considered.
The man, who cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a B.C. Supreme Court jury in June 2016.
At the start of his trial, he admitted to having shot and killed 22-year-old Tyler Myers on Nov. 22, 2008.
The shooter was 16 at the time he killed Myers. Both he and Myers were involved in romantic sexual relationships with Monica Sikorski, who was 17 at the time. Sikorski and the shooter together acquired a rifle and planned a meeting with Myers in the schoolyard of Salmon Arm’s Bastion elementary.
Sikorski pleaded guilty late last year to second-degree murder and was handed an adult life sentence with parole eligibility after seven years. Because she was sentence as an adult, her name can be published.
The Crown wants the shooter sentenced as an adult and ordered to serve 10 years before parole eligibility. Defence lawyer Donna Turko has recommended a youth sentence — the maximum of which would see the killer jailed six years and supervised for four more in the community.
The killer has been in jail since his arrest in November 2012. He and Sikorski were arrested at the culmination of an RCMP Mr. Big undercover operation.
During the sting, Sikorski was told by undercover Mounties posing as gangsters that police were building a case against her for Myers’ murder. She told the undercover investigator details about the murder, hoping it would be pinned on a fall guy. The shooter also met with an undercover officer as part of the sting on Sikorski. He admitted to having taken part in the killing.
On Tuesday, the second day of the shooter’s sentencing hearing, Turko recommended as part of a potential youth sentence an order that he undergo intensive rehabilitation while in custody under a specific section of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Such an order would first require the shooter to meet for reports with experts in custody who would determine his suitability, delaying the sentencing process further.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan gave Turko until Friday to decide whether she will apply to order the reports. If not, Donegan will likely reserve her decision on the shooter’s sentence.