The lawyer representing the La Loche school shooter says he will ask the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a lower court’s decision upholding an adult sentence.
In January 2016, the gunman killed brothers Dayne and Drayden Fontaine at a northern Saskatchewan home before driving to La Loche’s high school and killing teacher Adam Wood and teacher’s aide Marie Janvier. He also injured seven others.
The shooter was 15 days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the killings.
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He pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.
In May 2018, a judge handed down an adult sentence of life in prison with no parole for 10 years.
Defence lawyer Aaron Fox argued his client should have been sentenced as a youth.
Fox also said the judge should have considered the shooter’s low IQ, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and numerous mental disorders in her decision.
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal upheld the adult sentence in a two-to-one decision released on Oct. 31.
Fox told Global News on Tuesday he plans to seek leave to appeal the decision.
He added his decision was based largely on Justice Georgina Jackson’s dissenting opinion.
Fox expects to learn whether the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the case later this winter or in early spring.
The maximum youth sentence would be six years incarceration followed by four years of supervision in the community.
His identity remains under a publication ban until the appeal period expires.
-With files from Ryan Kessler and Tyler Marr
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