There has been another delay in the sentencing of a Salmon Arm man convicted last year of first-degree murder after shooting a romantic rival to death more than eight years ago.
At the request of his lawyer, the man will meet with doctors as part of the report on sentence suitability.
Now 25, the man was 16 when he killed Tyler Myers on Nov. 22, 2008. He cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, unless he is sentenced as an adult.
The killer and Myers were both involved romantically with Monica Sikorski, who was 17 at the time of the murder. She was sentenced as an adult last month to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
The male killer was convicted by a B.C. Supreme Court jury in June.
At trial, court heard he and Sikorski hatched a plan to scare Myers. The male killer hid in a stand of trees with a borrowed rifle and Sikorski invited Myers for a conversation. The killer shot Myers three times, including once in the back of the head.
The killer and Sikorski were arrested in 2012 at the conclusion of an RCMP Mr. Big sting targeting Sikorski. He has been in custody since. Mr. Big stings are undercover operations in which police pose as gangsters and try to elicit confessions from suspects.
The Crown wants him sentenced as an adult, but defence lawyer Donna Turko is recommending he be sentenced in accordance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act’s intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision program — a specialized sentencing process for youths with mental-health needs.
The killer has not been diagnosed as having any mental-health disorders, but Turko has said he was suffering emotionally at the time of the murder. She compared his desire to please Sikorski to the drug-seeking behaviour of an addict.
The killer will have to meet with doctors and a probation officer, who will then prepare a report to determine his suitability for the sentencing program.
Ultimately, the sentence — youth or adult — is up to B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan, who expressed frustration in court last fall after a prior sentencing delay for the killer.
