Kim Walker has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of James Hayward. The jury spent 30 hours deliberating, before returning with the verdict on the evening of May 26.
Kim Walker shot James Hayward five times on March 17, 2003. Jadah Walker, Kim Walker's daughter, was dating Hayward at the time, and Kim Walker believed that Hayward was giving her drugs.
Crown prosecutor Robin Ritter has asked for 11 years, minus time served, arguing that the sentence needs to send the message that vigilante justice has no place in Canada.
"The verdict from the jury is clear, he was not acting in any form of self defense... I think it shows that Kim Walker is not a hero. Kim Walker has no regard for the law and no regard for human life," Ritter states.
Defense council Balfour Der wants time served for his client, suggesting that Walker is not a danger to others and other firearms related manslaughter cases received a minimum sentence.
"The facts of this case just make it a minimum sentence case," Der says.
Jadah Walker says that the verdict is not a worst case scenario, and is hopeful that her father can avoid more jail time.
"I just hope everybody can learn from this situation," she stated after the verdict was read.
Elizabeth Walker asked where the law was to protect her daughter eight years ago. Her comments caused a shouting match between the Walker and Hayward families in front of the court house, after James Hayward's brother Dan Hayward fired back, demanding to know what the law did to protect his brother.
Dan Hayward says the legal system failed in this case, and he believes that the verdict should have been second-degree murder.
"I am completely disgusted right now... I'm serving a life sentence without my brother because of him."
In his victim impact statement, Dan Hayward stated that losing his brother had an extremely negative impact on his life, causing him to suffer from bouts of depression and problems with alcohol. He also said that while his brother did make mistakes in his life, he was also a good person, someone who taught him how to ride his bike and do other things, and someone who he looked up to all his life. He says that while he hopes the statement will get a stronger sentence, he means to send a message to Kim Walker.
"I wrote that for him, I wrote that so he knew what he did to me and my family."
Lorrie Getty, James Hayward's mother, also gave a victim impact statement.
Fighting through tears, Getty expressed that it's a mother's greatest fear to have a child killed, and that she doesn't know if she will ever recover.
"I always thought that being James' mom was a hard job, some times he made it really tough, but I had no idea what not being James' mom would feel like," Getty said.
She also said she was haunted by the fact that her son spent his last Christmas with the Walker family.
With the trial over, Getty says that she's focused on trying to honor her son and the person he was.
"He was an amazing young man who made incredibly bad choices and he gave his life for them."
Getty says that she'll spend the "rest of her life" telling people the good things about her son.
"Before this happened, and now, I am so very proud to be James Hayward's mom."
At the end of the sentencing submissions, Kim Walker spoke to the Hayward family.
"I am very remorseful and would give anything to have James back with you," he said.
Sentencing will take place on July 13. Kim Walker will remain in custody until this date.
