Convicted killer's tragic life should mitigate term: defence
Lawyer wants six years for homicide, Crown seeking 14
The tragic life of a Calgary-area man, who killed his second cousin with a billiard ball in a sock, warrants a six-year prison sentence, his lawyer said Monday.
But Crown prosecutor Jim Sawa argued that Scott Big Crow's actions, coupled with his criminal record, deserve more than double that punishment.
Sawa said Justice David Labrenz should sentence Big Crow to 14 years for the manslaughter of Keith Big Crow, followed by an additional three years for causing an indignity to his body.
Defence counsel Dale Fedorchuk said a total prison term of eight years, including two for the indignity count, would be a sufficient penalty, considering the tragic life Big Crow, 38, had endured.
Both lawyers agreed Labrenz should discount any punishment by 3 1/2 years to credit the offender for so-called dead time on remand.
Fedorchuk said the demise of his relative at his own hands was just another in a long list of untimely deaths Big Crow has experienced, including the drug overdose of his common-law spouse.
The woman died as Big Crow frantically tried to get her medical help, the lawyer said.
“His common-law wife died under his hands, when he was trying to save her,” Fedorchuk said.
The lawyer said the death of his cousin, which occurred when the two men were drinking and Keith Big Crow made inappropriate sexual comments about women in the offender's life, added to an already tragic life.
“This has been his darkest hour in a life full of darkness,” Fedorchuk said.
Big Crow pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the May 3, 2018 killing of his second cousin on the Tsuut'ina Nation just west of Calgary. He had been charged with second-degree murder.
Three days later he set the body on fire in a pile of tires in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Labrenz will hand down a sentencing decision on Feb. 8.