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North Okanagan man ends jury trial, pleads guilty to manslaughter

Click to play video: 'Man arrested in connection with Spallumcheen homicide'
Man arrested in connection with Spallumcheen homicide
One person has been arrested and remains in custody as police continue to investigate the discovery of a body in a rural area of the North Okanagan. – Sep 21, 2021

A North Okanagan man with a lengthy criminal history has pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a man he’d been hanging out with one night nearly three years earlier.

Jevon Smith, 49, was to stand trial for the second-degree murder of Damien Samoleski in September 2021 but last week he pleaded guilty to the lesser included offence of manslaughter with a firearm, according to the BC Prosecution Service.

He was sentenced last week to 1,764 days in jail.  This is after serving 892 days of pre-sentence custody, credited as 1,338 days. The effective sentence is therefore 3,102 days, or approximately 8.5 years.

Click to play video: 'Armstrong, Spallumcheen settle decades-long dispute'
Armstrong, Spallumcheen settle decades-long dispute
The court also imposed a lifetime firearms prohibition, a forfeiture order, and a DNA order.

Samoleski’s body was found in a gravel pit on Back Enderby Road, northwest of Armstrong, on Sept. 20, 2021. The discovery prompted a manhunt and Smith was later found.

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BC  Court Services Online indicates that Smith’s criminal record goes back to 2013 and includes motor vehicle offences, weapons charges and break and enters.

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