A placement hearing to determine where convicted teen killer Skylar Prockner should serve part of his sentence was before the court Thursday.
Nineteen-year-old Skylar Prockner was sentenced as an adult to life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for ten years back in July for the murder of 16-year-old Hannah Leflar.
He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing Leflar back in 2015.
On Thursday, the defence argued Prockner should remain at the Paul Dojack Youth Centre until his 20th birthday in April.
The presumption has been Prockner would go to an adult prison when he was sentenced as an adult, unless the defence makes an application otherwise, which they have.
According to the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), a youth who is sentenced as an adult is entitled to a placement hearing. The issues generally arise when a youth is under the age of 20 years old.
Prockner’s defence lawyer James Struthers believes keeping him where he is for now allows for access to education and rehabilitation programs.
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In court, Struthers argued about the different programming that would be available to Prockner at Paul Dojack.
In response, Justice Jennifer Pritchard argued the defence did not provide any timelines on when those programs could be offered, if they would be beneficial or even available to Prockner.
Struthers also said the close proximity to Prockner’s family would be good for him.
“Having some family support… even for a short period of time is just a plus,” Struthers said.
On the issue of family, Pritchard had some harsh words, questioning whether being close to family would actually be beneficial to Prockner.
It’s also not ensured that if he turned 20 he would be automatically transferred to a federal penitentiary.
“There’s another presumption that no person under the age of 20 shall remain in a youth facility but again, there are exceptions to that, similar to now,” Crown prosecutor Chris White said.
“This is a case where the Crown is standing on the presumption. We think he should head to the penitentiary,” he said.
“He’s committed an adult crime, he should do adult time in an adult facility.”
Prockner would have to be moved to a federal penitentiary eventually.
The hearing has been adjourned until Friday to allow for the defence to gather more evidence, to convince the court staying at Paul Dojack would be of benefit to Prockner.
There are three options for the court to consider:
- Federal Penitentiary (Saskatchewan Penitentary)
- Provincial Correctional Centre (Provincial Correctional Centre)
- Youth centre (Paul Dojack Youth Centre)
The Crown has yet to make their submissions.
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