Kim Walker has been sentenced to eight years in prison but with his time served he will be behind bars for another year and a half.
A twelve member jury convicted Walker of manslaughter on May 26th.
Walker was on trial for killing his daughters’ boyfriend James Hayward after Walker accused him of making his daughter addicted to drugs.
Crown Prosecutor Robin Ritter argued to dissuade vigilante justice that Walker should serve a higher sentence, and asked for eleven years, less three-and-a-half years for time already served.
“The fact a firearm was used, the fact that he was shot in his own home, the fact that he was unarmed, the fact that he was shot while he was down,” Ritter said to reporters outside the courthouse. “All of that.”
To solidify his case, Ritter had family members of James Hayward read victim impact statements to Justice Ellen Gunn. They described a constant pain since Hayward was shot eight years ago.
“It felt really good to finally be able to tell someone how my whole family feels, how I feel,” said Hayward’s Mom Lorrie Getty. “How it’s impacted my life and changed it forever.”
During the trial defence lawyer Balfour Der argued that Kim Walker should spend no more time behind bars, noting he already served three-and-a-half years after being convicted of second degree murder in his first trial.
Der also revealed that they had offered a manslaughter plea to the crown twice in the past year. Both offers were turned down, but Der said Justice Gunn should take them into account.
“With the time he’s already served, he should get double credit for it, and so that would put him well past the four year minimum,” said Der. “The facts of this case just make it a minimum sentence case.”
After both submissions were made, Kim Walker rose in court and turned to Hayward’s family. He offered an apology, and said he would give anything to bring James back. It’s an apology that Hayward’s family says fell well short.
“It felt very insincere and very late, too late, too late to really be real,” said Lorrie Getty.
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