Alvin Patrick Junior Naistus, who fatally stabbed Billy Johnston during an altercation in the Northwoods Inn parking lot, should spend 14 years in prison before he is eligible for parole, the Crown argued Monday in a Saskatoon courtroom.
A jury found Naistus, 26, guilty of second-degree murder last week after a trial in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench. Johnston died of a stab wound to the heart on April 18, 2015.
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 10 years. On Monday, Crown prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko argued for Naistus’s parole ineligibility to be raised to 14 years because he is a gang member with a violent criminal record.
Court heard he previously served a penitentiary sentence for robbery, repeatedly breached court orders and was on probation at the time of the murder.
Defence lawyer Patrick McDougall argued for the minimum parole ineligibility of 10 years to account for his client’s upbringing. He said Naistus grew up in an alcoholic home and lived in about 25 foster homes by the time he was 16. He joined a gang because he had nowhere else to go, McDougall said.
Naistus was celebrating the completion of a program at SIAST and wasn’t looking for trouble on the night of the stabbing, his lawyer said. Court heard Naistus completed programming and classes after his first prison sentence and wants to continue his education during this sentence.
Although Johnston’s death is unfortunate, putting Naistus in prison for 14 years — a “retaliatory” sentence — won’t help him or society, McDougall argued.
“No one deserves to die the way my brother did,” Johnston’s adopted sister, Shannon Kowtiuk, told the judge. Reading from a victim impact statement, she said Johnston struggled with addiction since he was a teenager, and hit rock-bottom when their mother died.
Johnston, who grew up in Ontario, came to Saskatoon to attend Teen Challenge, a faith-based rehab program. He was trying to become an addictions councillor but got injured at work and relapsed, Kowtiuk said.
“Even when he lived on the streets he took care of the people he was with,” she told court. Underneath his addictions, Johnston was a kind-hearted person, she said.
Kowtiuk said she found out in 2015 that a woman gave birth to Johnston’s son. She said it breaks her heart that he will never know his father.
Justice Neil Gabrielson reserved his sentencing decision until Wednesday.
Related
