The family of Alvin Patrick Junior Naistus sobbed and told Naistus they loved him as the 26-year-old convicted murderer was taken away to begin serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years.
Justice Neil Gabrielson sentenced Naistus on Wednesday to serve the minimum time required for second-degree murder before he can apply for parole.
Last week, a jury convicted Naistus of murdering 44-year-old Billy Johnston. Naistus stabbed Johnston during an altercation in the Northwoods Inn parking lot on April 18, 2015. The jury heard Johnston died almost immediately when the knife pierced his heart.
The Crown argued Naistus should serve 14 years in prison before he is eligible for parole because he is a gang member with a violent criminal record. The defence argued for the minimum parole ineligibility of 10 years to account for his client’s troubled upbringing.
Prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko presented a prior case out of British Columbia in which a man who stabbed someone 23 times had his parole eligibility was set at 14 years. Gabrielson ruled the case is not “applicable in these circumstances” and that Naistus’s Gladue factors — systemic issues taken into account when sentencing aboriginal offenders — warrant a shorter period of parole ineligibility.
Judges must consider three criteria when deciding an offender’s eligibility for parole: the offender’s character, the nature and circumstances of the offence and the recommendation of the jury.
Following the verdict, 11 jurors came back with no opinion on a sentence, while one recommended no chance of parole for 15 years.
Gabrielson said he is confident the parole board “will do its job when the offender becomes eligible for parole” by not releasing offenders who “present an undue risk to society.”
Billy Johnston, 44, was fatally stabbed in the Northwoods Inn parking lot in Saskatoon on April 18, 2015.
Johnston’s sister and brother-in-law, who took part in Monday’s sentencing hearing, had to leave Saskatoon before the sentencing decision. They said Johnston, who is from Ontario, came to Saskatoon to attend rehab but relapsed after a work injury.
His sister, Shannon Kowtiuk, said Johnston was a kind-hearted “gentle giant” despite his addictions. On Monday, she expressed hope for a parole ineligibility period longer than 10 years.
“(Naistus and Johnston) both lived tough lives growing up, but (Naistus) gets to, at some point, come back out and be with his family,” said her husband, Brad Kowtiuk.
“The toughest thing for us is that he gets to walk again. Billy never will.”
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