Young man pleads guilty to manslaughter, then insists, 'I'm not a killer'
'You've got some work to do in terms of coming to grips with your reality,' judge tells convicted killer
A 23-year-old man originally charged with second-degree murder has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2018 death of Elijah Kozak.
But during a tense and frequently-disrupted hearing in Saskatoon provincial court Thursday, the offender, Duran Laplante, also sparred with his judge about whether his legal declaration makes him a killer.
"He pled down, said that he did it, then tried to deny responsibility right after he said he did it," said Nadia Kozak, the mother of 24-year-old victim Elijah Kozak.
"I don't think he understands or comprehends the gravity of what he did and how seriously that has affected people," she said of Laplante.
Nadia's feeling was echoed by Judge Sanjeev Anand, who kept a cool and even tone until Laplante began backpedalling on his actions moments before he was sentenced to five years.
"I'm not a killer," Laplante said after his plea.
"I think you've got some work to do, sir, in terms of coming to grips with your reality," Anand sternly told Laplante.
Agreed statement about Kozak's death
Laplante's lawyer, Adam Masiowski of Legal Aid Saskatchewan, told the courtroom that Laplante's plea came after some legal trading with Crown prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko.
"There certainly is an element of quid pro quo that has gone on between counsel in terms of what would have happened had the matter gone to trial," Masiowski said. He said the details "are somewhat controversial perhaps given the makeup of the courtroom."
Courtroom No. 3 was packed with the friends and family of Kozak and Laplante. They came to learn Laplante's fate and hear details about what happened to Kozak on the night of Aug. 10, 2018.
"I think they thought they could just make a plea deal, push it under the rug and have it over without much attention being paid to the whole process," said Nadia Kozak, who was expecting a trial and travelled to Saskatoon last week from Victoria, B.C., after learning about Laplante's plea and sentencing hearing.
The crowded gallery listened Thursday through frequent clanging and muffled voices coming through the thin walls of the courtroom, as well as interruptions from within the gallery itself.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Kozak and Laplante got into a fight in a seventh-floor apartment hallway in downtown Saskatoon.
Laplante was visiting his sister Shayna Laplante at the apartment building. Shayna was Kozak's girlfriend at the time.
Kozak came to the building shortly after 10 p.m. Shayna didn't let him into the apartment.
"[Kozak] could be violent and unpredictable," said Claxton-Viczko, reading from the agreed statement of facts partly drawn from Shayna's police statement.
"Elijah heard Duran's voice and thought Shayna was cheating on him so he continued to kick and pound on the door," Claxton-Viczko said.
Around 20 minutes passed until an angry Duran Laplante opened the apartment door and confronted Kozak in the hallway. Shayna stayed inside the apartment but watched part of the ensuing tussle through the partly-open door.
"[Duran Laplante now] advises that Elijah produced a knife, that he was able to disarm him and after doing so stabbed him once with the intention of making him leave," Claxton-Viczko said.
Laplante fled the building. Police and paramedics found Kozak on the hallway floor with one stab wound in his stomach. He was pronounced dead in hospital less than an hour later.
Laplante turned himself in to police 11 days later. He was interviewed "but maintained his right to silence at that time," Claxton-Viczko said.
Today, "he acknowledges that the stab wound resulted in Elijah's death," she added.
'A lot of that isn't true'
Judge Anand then asked Masiowski if Laplante agreed to those facts.
Yes, Masiowski said, before turning to his client in the prisoner's box. "Is that correct, Duran? Are we admitting those facts, Duran?
At least fifteen seconds passed before Duran said he had problems with his sister Shayna's statement.
LAPLANTE: A lot of that isn't true so it's kind of like yes and no.
MASIOWSKI: Maybe we'd better adjourn for a few minutes so I can speak to him about what he's referring to that isn't true. I do have written instructions. So it is a bit of a surprise.
JUDGE ANAND: That's probably a good idea.
When court resumed, Masiowski explained that while Laplante did not believe his sister was a reliable witness, he did not dispute his role in Kozak's death.
Anand accepted Laplante's plea, and the matter appeared settled — until it was time for Laplante to make his statement.
'I'm not a monster'
Laplante appeared in court wearing a black hoodie from Crooks and Castles.
He rose up in his box, unfolded a piece of paper and began by telling Kozak's family that he was "sorry for everything."
"I just wanted you to know that I'm not a killer. I'm not a monster. I'm not a bad person. Before all this, I was just a kid who stayed home and played video games," he said.
Laplante said he was only trying to defend himself against Kozak.
"Even though I took [things] a little bit past defence, I feel it was all a big mistake. I just wanted to say sorry, that I never tried to kill anyone in my life."
Then came a tense exchange between Laplante and Anand, who explained the legal meaning of Laplante's already-entered plea.
JUDGE ANAND: You've entered a guilty plea to manslaughter, which is one of the three forms of homicide in the criminal code. By virtue of doing that, you have admitted to the community that you are a killer. You need to take — you need to understand what that means. You've taken someone's life. So when you tell me, 'I'm not a killer,' you're wrong. You are a killer. You're not a murderer, because you didn't intend to kill someone—
LAPLANTE: I never tried to kill anyone.
JUDGE ANAND: But you still took his life.
Laplante continued to demur, sparking a final exchange.
JUDGE ANAND: I think that, uh… I think you've got some work to do, sir, in terms of coming to grips with your reality. Because, like I said, you've plead guilty to manslaughter.
After that, Laplante appeared to capitulate.
LAPLANTE: Well, uh, I am here to plead guilty and just take responsibility, I guess. So I guess I am a killer, if that's what you're saying.
JUDGE ANAND: That's not only what I'm saying, that's what you've said.
Taking into account the time he's already served in remand, Laplante has three years and three months left to serve behind bars.
Laplante won't be allowed to own or possess a gun for 10 years after his release.
'Everything felt very rushed'
Nadia Kozak, Elijah Kozak's mother, said she felt Laplante's case played out in a "disgusting and atrocious way" — and not just because she was interrupted during her victim impact statement by both Laplante and his supporters in the gallery.
Kozak said she had been gearing up for a second-degree murder trial only to learn on the weekend before Thanksgiving — via a voicemail from the Crown prosecutor's office — that Laplante would be entering a guilty plea to manslaughter.
"It just makes it feel like my son's life didn't matter, that it wasn't worth taking the time to go to a trial to try to find out what really happened," she said.
Kozak said Claxton-Viczko only advised her family on Thanksgiving Monday about how to file a victim impact statement.
"Everything felt very rushed," Kozak said.
"My son's time was cut short by a willful act that someone else is responsible for. And then we're thrown into a system where we don't even have the time or aren't given the heads up we need to try to tell… a bit about [Elijah]."
Elijah was homeless at the time of his death and struggled with mental health and addictions issues, Nadia Kozak said.
But she and other family members also described him as a generous man who, despite his own misfortune, gave out five dollar bills to fellow street people. After his death, his family went downtown and did the same in his honour.
Their grief came out in other ways, they said.
"We put on costumes and went out bowling because frankly we didn't know what to do with ourselves," said Elijah's aunt Sarah Kozak.
'He made the choice to do that'
Nadia Kozak spoke of how even making dinner triggered thoughts of her son's death.
"I look at the knife in my hand and I think of how something like this was used to kill my son," she said. "My housemates removed a knife block from the kitchen counter and stored it out of sight in a drawer."
Kozak said a trial would have tested Laplante's credibility and further fleshed out Laplante's behaviour on the night of Elijah's death — including his decision to open the apartment door and confront Elijah in the hallway
"He made the choice to do that," she said.
On the other hand, Masiowski said there were "triable issues that [Lapante] gave up" by not going to trial, including elements of self-defence
"There was also, just in the general scheme of things, what I would suggest — if we look at the whole constellation of what happened here — somewhat mitigating [factors] in terms of what my client's role was."
CBC News has reached out to both Claxton-Viczko and Masiowski for further comment.
'Use that to do some good'
Manslaughter carries no minimum sentence, but second-degree murder — which Laplante was originally charged with — comes with a minimum sentence of life in prison with no parole for 10 years.
Anand ended his comments to Laplante by telling him his killing of Kozak doesn't have to be the only thing that defines him after his release.
"In 39 months, your sentence will be over," Anand said. "You'll have the rest of your life to redefine yourself. And my hope is that you'll keep in mind what you did to the Kozak family and what you did to him…. and you'll use that to do some good in the world."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
