Saskatoon

Sentencing arguments heard in Shaylin Sutherland-Kayseas murder case

The Crown and defence made submissions Tuesday on when convicted killer Shaylin Sutherland-Kayseas should be able to apply for parole. The minimum is ten years.

Justice Shawn Smith considering range of 10 to 15 years before parole eligibility

A facebook photo of Shaylin Sutherland-Kayseas. (Facebook)

Convicted killer Shaylin Sutherland-Kayseas will learn at the end of the month how long she'll have to wait before being able to apply for parole in the fatal shooting of Dylan Phillips.

In September, Justice Shawn Smith found the 20-year-old guilty of second-degree murder for the killing of Phillips.

Smith heard arguments Tuesday at Court of Queen's Bench about how long it should be before Sutherland-Kayseas is able to apply for parole.  A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.

The defence argued for that minimum. The Crown argued that that she should not be eligible for 15 years.

Justice Smith is scheduled to give a written decision November 30.

Phillips, 26, was beaten with a fence board and shot at his home on Saskatoon's Avenue G North in October 2016. He died at the scene.

Sutherland-Kayseas was charged with first-degree murder, murder for the benefit of a criminal organization and two counts of assault with a weapon.

She was found not guilty on the criminal organization charge.

The defence had argued for a manslaughter conviction, suggesting that Sutherland-Kayseas had shot Phillips accidentally when he lunged at her during a robbery gone wrong.

Prosecutors Melodi Kujawa and Christy Pannell argued that the 20-year-old shot deserved a first-degree murder conviction because she shot Phillips while on a "mission" for the Terror Squad.