Veit enters guilty plea to second-degree murder

The man accused of killing a Wilkie teaching assistant has entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder.

Wesley Veit entered the guilty plea Friday at Queen’s Bench courthouse in Battleford.

Veit, who appeared before Justice Gerald Allbright, was then sentenced to life imprisonment, with no possibility of parole for 18 years.

A firearms prohibition for life was ordered and a DNA sample was also ordered.

Veit was accused of the shooting death of his estranged wife, Heidi Veit, who had been a staff member at McLurg High School in Wilkie.

The shooting took place about five kilometres outside the community on March 28, 2017. Wesley Veit was taken into custody at a residence in the RM of Buffalo the following evening.

The case had been before the courts for the last several months, and had been in the pre-trial case management phase before it came to a resolution in court last week.

Veit was originally charged with first-degree murder, but a guilty plea was accepted for second-degree murder, which nevertheless carries a life sentence.