Gang member’s sentencing delayed
Sentencing delayed in gangster’s two manslaughter convictions
The family of a man slain on the orders of White Boy Posse gangster Joshua Dylan Petrin must wait to see justice done after a judge delayed sentencing Monday over issues with a joint submission.
Petrin, a full-patch member of the white supremacist organization with links to the northern Alberta drug trade, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2012 slaying of 35-year-old Bryan Gower. He has been convicted of three homicides and is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in a first-degree murder in Saskatoon.
A sentencing hearing took place before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice M.D. Gates, but he reserved judgment until a later date.
Tracy Argue, Gower’s older sister, thought Monday would be the last time she’d have to look at Petrin in the prisoner’s dock. She swore at Petrin, who rubbed his temples and smirked through parts of the proceedings, as he was led out of the courtroom.
“I really, truly thought today was going to be it,” she said outside court in Edmonton. “It’s very frustrating — anger, all the emotions start over and over again. For us, we just want closure — this has dragged on for five years.”
On Monday, Crown prosecutor Jeff Rudiak and defence lawyer Markham Silver made a joint sentencing submission on two manslaughter convictions — 10 years in prison for the Gower killing, and 10 years for the 2008 Edmonton slaying of Mitchell Chambers, to be served at the same time.
Petrin pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Chambers case, which was set to go to trial in June. A joint sentencing submission is a plea bargain between the Crown and defence.
Petrin was charged with firstdegree murder after Gower’s body was discovered in a remote area near Lloydminster in September 2012. A jury found him guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter last November.
Court heard Petrin ordered two White Boy Posse members to kill Gower over a drug debt. Gower’s killing was one of three slayings — along with a case where a man’s decapitated head was discovered in a north Edmonton alley in October, 2012 — that led to an eight-week, multi-agency police investigation of the gang. It culminated in the arrest of Petrin and three other gang members.
The group has since “dissipated,” police officials said at the time.
Petrin is serving life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the first-degree murder of Lorry Ann Santos. The mother of four was shot and killed after answering the door of her Saskatoon home and coming face to face with two men she did not know. Court heard the slaying was actually a botched hit job — Petrin had ordered the men to kill an ex-member of the gang, but a text message led them to the wrong address. He was also given a 12-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder, to be served at the same time.
During the nearly three-hour court hearing Monday, Crown and defence attorneys sparred with Gates over whether the manslaughter sentences should be served concurrently — as the joint submission proposed — or consecutively, meaning they will be served one after another.
The case will be before the court again Oct. 6 to set a date for the final sentencing hearing.