Youth Receives Maximum Sentence In Shooting Death

Youth Receives Maximum Sentence In Shooting Death

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 13:01

 

 

A La Ronge youth has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of another teen on the Big Stone reserve last summer.

 

The 16-year-old boy, who was 15 when Johnny Abel Venne was killed, received the maximum sentence allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

 

That amounts to two years of closed custody, and a year of community supervision.

 

He’s also prohibited from owning or using a firearm for 10 years.

 

The youth was initially charged with second-degree murder.

 

But Crown prosecutor Bob Lane says there was no evidence the youth intended to kill Venne — and that’s why he agreed to reduce the charge to manslaughter.

 

Because of credit given for time already served, Lane says the youth will be out of closed custody in about five months.

 

Venne’s body was found floating in the Montreal River.

 

Another teen pleaded guilty to a charge of obstruction of justice for putting Venne’s body in the river after the shooting.

 

The Crown dropped the charges against two other youths who were also charged in connection to the incident.