Beaulieu receives eight years in prison for manslaughter

“Any sentence in a situation where someone is killed is of course never going to be sufficient to make up for that loss of life,” he said. “I would never want anyone to think the Crown is saying this is the equivalent to Mr. Pede losing his life. His family will be without him forever, and this will never be just in that way.”

“However, with the range of sentences, we do believe this is a just sentence.”

With credit for pre-trial custody, Beaulieu still has three years and 10 months left to serve in prison.

Beaulieu and Luke Boxell were both initially charged with second-degree murder in connection with Pede’s death.

According to an agreed statement of facts read in court, Beaulieu and Boxell attempted to rob Pede of drugs during a confrontation the night of December 31, 2016. The pair were armed with a revolver and bear spray at the time of the incident, though the Crown was not able to conclusively prove who was armed with what weapon.

Pede, who was sitting in the front seat of a vehicle driven by a friend, was shot in the head. His body was dumped in Strathcona Island Park, where it was later discovered by residents. He was airlifted to Calgary hospital, where he died 11 days later due to his injuries.

Boxell was arrested by Medicine Hat Police in January 2017.

Beaulieu, according to the agreed statement of facts, fled to Manitoba, where he was arrested on February 13.

Cowan says the Crown was unable to conclusively prove in Beaulieu’s case whether it was Beaulieu or Boxell who fired the fatal shot.

“The police did a very good investigation, they were very thorough,” said Cowan. “But as far as witnesses, sometimes witnesses are reluctant to assist or to be part of the process. Sometimes they hold things back. Whether that happened here, I can’t say for certain. But when we examine our witnesses, we have to take that into account with our strength of our case.”

Boxell is currently serving a 10 year prison sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter last year.

“The circumstances of what they were involved in were similar, but the strength of the case wasn’t exactly the same,” said Cowan. “We certainly were considering when we were dealing with Mr. Boxell, the strength of our case against him. The strength of the case against Mr. Beaulieu was not to the same level.

“Also, Mr. Beaulieu had additional personal circumstances that needed to be taken into account that were different than Mr. Boxell’s, because people are sentenced as individuals. While the facts were the same, they weren’t the same individually, and the evidence against them was not at the same strength.”

Prior to the sentence being read, Beaulieu addressed the court, apologizing to Pede’s family and saying he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.

No victim impact statements were presented in court.

In addition to the prison sentence, Beaulieu also received a lifetime firearms prohibition.

by Charles Lefebvre

Beaulieu receives eight years in prison for manslaughter

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