Sentencing adjourned in violent robbery case

In September, a Saskatoon man accused of fatally stabbing Johnathon Keenatch-Lafond during a “drug rip” in 2014 was acquitted of manslaughter, but convicted of robbery.

Now a judge will decide the basis for the jury’s verdict before sentencing arguments can be made for Keith Clarence Napope.

Jurors cannot divulge information about their deliberations, so what they believe happened when Keenatch-Lafond was stabbed twice in his 20th Street apartment suite on Nov. 17, 2014 is unknown to anyone else.

A sentencing hearing scheduled for Wednesday was adjourned to Dec. 13 at the Crown’s request.

Prosecutor Bryce Pashovitz asked Justice Grant Currie to make a “finding of fact” about the details of the incident.

Pashovitz said the details are necessary because the Crown and defence disagree on the facts of the case — an integral part of deciding an appropriate sentence.

The Crown believes Napope was involved in a “high end robbery” that resulted in a death. The jury had to have believed Napope was inside the apartment in order to convict him of robbery, Pashovitz reasoned.

Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle argued the opposite is true. The jury must have concluded that Napope helped orchestrate the robbery from outside the apartment building, he said.

Pfefferle argued Napope would have been convicted of manslaughter if the jury believed he was in the suite during the robbery, because aiding or abetting can also result in a manslaughter conviction.