A man convicted by a jury of robbery, but not manslaughter, will be spending the holidays in prison serving out another four years.
On Wednesday, Keith Napope was sentenced to a total of seven years for a home invasion in 2014, but minus time already served, he will face four remaining years behind bars.
It was a crushing blow for Napope’s family who addressed the media outside of Saskatoon court, saying they thought he would be free to walk.
“They didn’t have to do this to him – you hope for the best and expect the worse and worst happened,” Napope’s younger brother Dexter Laplante said.
In September, a jury was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Napope was guilty of manslaughter in the death of 35-year-old Johnathan Keenatch-Lafond.
During trial, court heard that Napope’s DNA was found inside the victim’s apartment complex and on the shirt of the deceased and on day three, the jury came back with their decision.
Napope was guilty of taking part in the drug robbery at the 20th Street apartment complex but wasn’t involved in the stabbing death of the victim.
The defence in this case filed an appeal less than two hours after Napope’s sentence was handed down.
“The Crown termed it a home invasion asking for seven to 10 years, in its respectful view they were asking for a manslaughter-type sentence and again asking for Mr. Napope to be found culpable for the death of the deceased,” Napope’s defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle said.
Given Napope’s lengthy criminal history with approximately 25 youth offences and more than 40 offences as adult, the Crown argued that Napope should serve a significant sentence in a federal institution.
Past offences included property crime, assault, assault causing bodily harm, and outlined the Crown, that robbery is one of the most serious offences in the Criminal Code.
When the judge delivered his decision he made it crystal clear – Napope was being sentenced for the robbery, not the victim’s death.
“The court carefully considered this matter and the court said that what he was being sentenced on was a robbery in the course of invading someone’s home,” senior Crown prosecutor Bryce Pashovit said.
“By definition as the court pointed out if a robbery is violent, either violence is used or violence threatened and that’s the basis upon which Napope was sentenced on.”