THUNDER BAY – A now 20-year-old murder convict will receive the maximum youth sentence for the “senseless, cowardly” killing of a local woman nearly three years ago.
The man, who was 17 at the time of the July 2013 killing of 30-year-old Shannon Hogan and previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced as a youth Thursday morning at the Thunder Bay Courthouse.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the maximum sentence for second-degree murder is seven years, with no more than four years to be served in custody with the remaining three years to be served under community supervision.
After factoring in pre-sentence custody, the offender will serve 20 months in an adult provincial reformatory facility.
Crown prosecutor Gordon Fillmore said a decision was made by the Crown Attorney’s Office to proceed with the youth sentence because of doubt about meeting the burden of proof to move the matter to adult court and a pre-sentence report that detailed the offender making progress to improve his life while in custody at the youth correctional centre.
Fillmore also told the court consideration was given as a result of the offender entering a guilty plea in January and waiving his right to a trial.
He also acknowledged members of the victim’s family, who were visibly upset in the courtroom, were not supportive of the decision for the offender to be sentenced as a youth.
The identity of the offender is protected by a publication ban under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Hogan was violently killed in a Lake Street laneway in the early morning hours of July 16, 2013. The offender was arrested and charged in December of that year.
Three victim impact statements were presented to the court before the sentence was imposed.
Hogan’s cousin read hers, calling the death a “senseless and horrific murder.”
She said she is haunted by recurring nightmares of her cousin bloodied, beaten and stabbed and trying to escape the attack.
She said the “family remains heartbroken and damaged.”
The two other statements were read into the court by Fillmore, which mostly expressed outrage with the killing and dissatisfaction with the offender being sentenced as a youth.
Defence lawyer Gil Labine said the offender, whose life was going nowhere and was drinking and doing drugs at the time of the offence, has made improvements and working towards rehabilitation after being in custody since December 2013.
Labine had asked Justice John Fregeau to defer his judgement, which would allow the offender a greater chance of attending the likely imminent funeral of his step-brother.
Fregeau denied that request and instead imposed the sentence, calling the crime a “senseless, cowardly, random act of violence.”
The offender must also submit a DNA sample and is ordered to comply with a two-year weapons prohibition, the maximum allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
