Carvel Clayton sentenced to 8 years for killing Shakur Jefferies
Elizabeth Chiu | CBC News | Posted: January 8, 2019 11:09 PM | Last Updated: January 8, 2019
Clayton fatally shot Jefferies in the parking lot of a Halifax apartment building in 2016
A Halifax man apologized to the family of a young father he shot to death in 2016 as he was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in prison for a crime the judge said "is really a tragedy."
Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Jamie Campbell accepted a joint sentence recommendation of eight years for Carvel Clayton. The 23-year-old man was given credit for time served, which leaves seven years and 137 days on his sentence.
Shakur Jefferies, 21, was found dead in the parking lot of an apartment building on Washmill Lake Drive in Halifax close to supper time on Nov. 12, 2016.
Clayton was originally charged with second-degree murder and was scheduled to go to trial this month. But he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in October.
Shots fired in parking lot
According to an agreed statement of facts, animosity had been growing between both men's groups of friends.
Before the shooting, Jefferies, driving a Cadillac, had "pursued" Clayton in his Mercedes SUV from a Bayers Lake dollar store to the apartment building where Clayton lived.
Clayton's girlfriend, who had been in the SUV with the couple's three-year-old daughter, got out of the vehicle and exchanged words with Jefferies before leaving the parking lot with the child.
Jefferies and a friend then approached the SUV, and at one point, Clayton struck Jefferies with his vehicle.
Clayton then parked the SUV, got a .45-calibre gun from a friend and stood beside his car.
The court document states Jefferies was looking for a fight and Clayton pointed his gun at him. That led to a struggle over the weapon and Clayton pulled the trigger.
Of the four bullets that struck him, the shot to the chest killed Jefferies.
Victim's family 'in complete shambles'
Shawn Jarvis, whose partner is Jefferies's mother, presented a victim impact statement about the "pain and anger" following the shooting.
"Shakur really could have been anything he wanted to be in this life," he wrote. "Instead his life was snatched abruptly. I struggled to keep my pain concealed and support my family."
Jarvis said his "days and nights are filled with anxiety, depression, grief and hopelessness as we fight like hell to hold on to our family that is in complete shambles."
Redemption possible, says judge
This case has been fraught with tension between the two families that has erupted in melees at court more than once.
Clayton, an aspiring rap artist who goes by the name Certi, addressed the court and took responsibility for the shooting, but said he felt "forced into a situation to react the way I did."
He said he was "truly sorry" to Jefferies's family, especially the victim's mother because "no one deserves to bury their family."
The judge said Clayton bears a "significant sense of moral blame worthiness," and added the circumstances of the manslaughter "bring his killing closer to murder than an accident."
"[Clayton] may have felt threatened but he was not backed into a corner. He took a gun, he took the chance that the gun would be used. He did that in a busy residential neighbourhood when people would be expected to be present," said Campbell.
But he added that Clayton has had "very limited involvement with the criminal justice system" and is "not beyond redemption."
Gun violence condemned
Campbell noted two families are experiencing great loss — one from the death of a loved one, the other from the imprisonment of a young man.
But as he looked out into the courtroom Tuesday, Campbell said he didn't see "two camps" but rather one community.
"Why do young men have to die on the concrete in parking lots in Halifax?" he asked.
"Why do young men have to keep dying? Why are there guns in this community?"