‘A youth sentence would not be just’: Why the La Loche shooter will receive an adult sentence
“The crimes were not an impulsive act done by an immature person, and the nature and manner of his murders were unnecessarily violent.”
Those were the words Judge Janet McIvor used as she announced the youth who killed four people and injured seven others in January of 2016 would be sentenced as an adult. She spoke to a courtroom packed with victims and their families, as well as family members of the now-20-year-old shooter on Feb. 23 to announce her decision. The media was physically barred from entering the courtroom during the hearing, and had to learn the details of McIvor’s decision from audio recordings requested after the fact.
The shooter was only few weeks shy of his eighteenth birthday when he shot Dayne Fontaine, 17, and Drayden Fontaine, 13, in a home, then proceeded to La Loche Community School where he shot nine more people. In addition to the Fontaines, the shooting claimed the lives of Adam Wood, 35, and Marie Janvier, 21.
McIvor said she looked at two factors when assessing the Crown’s request for an adult sentence: the shooter’s level of moral culpability, and whether a youth sentence would be enough to hold him accountable for his actions. Reading from an abridged version of her lengthy written decision, McIvor first acknowledged the respect the still-grieving community has given to the judicial process.