Neil Lee Yakimchuk watched his second chance at freedom slip away as, once again, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Saskatoon man Isho Hana nearly 14 years ago.
The jury reached a verdict on Friday morning, about 90 minutes into its second day of deliberations at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench following a nearly three-week trial.
The verdict means jurors believed Yakimchuk, 37, was telling the truth when he confessed to killing Hana during a conversation with an undercover police officer in 2011 — seven years after the murder. He said there was a drug turf war between his friend and Hana, that the friend paid him to kill Hana and that he chased Hana into the street and shot him in the back.
Isho Hana
Hana, a 34-year-old father and high-level drug dealer, was found bleeding from two gunshot wounds in the 2100 block of Preston Avenue South on April. 15, 2004.
Jurors also had the option of finding Yakimchuk guilty of second-degree murder, if they believed he was the shooter but didn’t believe the killing was a planned “hit.”
What the latest jury didn’t know was that Yakimchuk had previously been found guilty in Hana’s death.
Yakimchuk was originally convicted of first-degree murder following a jury trial in 2014. However, he appealed that verdict and a new trial was ordered because the judge had not instructed the jury to consider manslaughter as a possible verdict, based on information Yakimchuk provided in his testimony.
Neil Lee Yakimchuk
This time around, manslaughter was not an available option for jurors because Yakimchuk did not testify in his own defence.
He received a mandatory life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Jurors also were not aware that Yakimchuk is currently serving a life sentence for the first-degree murder of Juan Carlos Dequina in Calgary in 2008. He will serve the two sentences concurrently because the Saskatoon murder predates legislation allowing judges to give consecutive periods of parole ineligibility for multiple murders.
Before sentencing, Justice Gerald Allbright commented on the three weeks he and Yakimchuk spent together in the courtroom and asked Yakimchuk if he had anything to say. The convicted murderer started to cry and shook his head.
His mother, who was in the courtroom, also began sobbing. Yakimchuk shared a long hug with her before he was taken away.
Hana’s family was not in court for the verdict, and no victim impact statements were submitted.
From left: Jonathan Dombowsky, Kennith Tingle and Long Nam Luu were acquitted in 2016 of first-degree murder charges in Isho Hana’s death.
In 2016, Kennith Jacob Tingle, Jonathan Kenneth Dombowsky and Long Nam Luu were acquitted in connection with Hana’s murder following Saskatoon’s longest-running murder trial.
Dombowsky was the friend accused of hiring Yakimchuk to kill Hana. Tingle was accused of being Yakimchuk’s accomplice in the shooting, and it was alleged Luu was involved in the payment for Hana’s murder.
Police were executing a so-called “Mr. Big” sting on Yakimchuk — posing as members of a fictitious criminal organization trying to gain his trust — in connection to the Calgary murder when Yakimchuk confessed to the Hana killing. The defence argued Yakimchuk was lying to “fit in” with the crime group. The Crown argued he had no motivation to lie.