A jury has found Laylin Delorme guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the December 2015 shootings at two different Edmonton Mac’s convenience stores that left two men dead.
The jury made its decision on Friday, less than 24 hours after deliberations began.
Defence lawyer Naeem Rauf said his client is very remorseful for his actions but can’t remember much of the shootings.
“He has very little memory of it because of the drug intoxication at the time,” Rauf said.
The first-degree murder convictions come with automatic life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years. The jury was asked to weigh in on whether the sentences should be served concurrently or consecutively. The judge will make the ultimate decision.
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“Twenty-five years is a very long time in the life of anybody, especially of a young man,” Rauf said.
“Obviously it was a terrible tragic actions that were done on that day, but as I said in my address to the jury, we shouldn’t judge people on the worst things that they’ve ever done in their lives.”
The Crown is seeking consecutive sentences for Delorme, which would mean life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years.
Delorme was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Mac’s clerks Ricky Cenabre and Karanpal Bhangu.
“I think there’s great hope for him and to give him a 50-year or 30-year [sentence] was really very discouraging and in my opinion, it’s cruel,” Rauf said.
Colton Steinhauer and a 13-year-old boy who cannot be named were also charged in connection with the robberies and killings, which happened on Dec. 18, 2015.
Surveillance video revealed to the jury during the trial showed a person in a grey jacket shooting one of the clerks and a man wearing a black hoodie shooting the other. Steinhauer was wearing a grey jacket.
The Crown’s theory was that Delorme shot Bhangu and gave the gun to another man who shot Cenabre. Crown prosecutor John Watson told the jury the murders involved a “high degree of planning and deliberation.”
Rauf argued his client robbed two Mac’s stores and shot a clerk but he didn’t plan the killing. He asked the jury to find his client guilty of manslaughter rather than first-degree murder.
Watch below: Ongoing Global News coverage of Delorme’s trial
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