YORKTON, Sask. - A Saskatchewan man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend.

A Court of Queen's Bench jury, which came back late yesterday afternoon, recommended the minimum sentence, life in prison with first eligibility for parole in 10 years, for Kim Walker in the death of James Hayward, 24, on March 17, 2003.

accepted the recommendation.

After hearing the verdict, his daughter, Jadah Walker, gave out an audible sob and held her head in her hands as the final juror was polled.

Her 50-year-old father looked alert and sat upright before the verdict was announced, then put his head forward, turned red and grimaced.

Mr. Hayward's family seemed pleased, nodding their heads when the verdict was read.

The jury began its deliberations Wednesday after Judge Pritchard directed them to find at the minimum a verdict that Mr. Walker -- who has admitted causing Mr. Hayward's death but said he did not intend to kill him -- was guilty of manslaughter.

Mr. Walker was charged with first-degree murder.

Mr. Hayward bled to death in the front room of his house after being shot five times by Mr. Walker, once in the back at close range.

Mr. Walker testified he didn't remember the shooting.

Yesterday, after Mr. Hayward's family and other observers had left the courtroom, his family watched as Kim Walker was led into custody without handcuffs.

"This is not a happy day for anyone," Judge Pritchard said, addressing Mr. Walker. "I am satisfied you were operating under terrible anguish."

But Justice Pritchard told Mr. Walker he was wrong in thinking shooting Mr. Hayward was his only option.

"You were a desperate man. In saving your daughter, you wrongfully and unnecessarily took the life of another human being."

Earlier this week, while the jury was still deliberating, Mr. Walker's lawyer, Morris Bodnar, called for a mistrial.

He told the court late Thursday that Judge Pritchard had erred in her charge to the jury. He cited a unanimous Supreme Court decision from last October in which the high court ruled a judge can't take away a jury's ability to acquit.

Judge Pritchard initially suggested she could recharge the jury yesterday and asked for Mr. Bodnar and Crown prosecutor Daryl Bode to submit any legal arguments dealing with the issue.

However, yesterday she chose to neither recharge the jury nor declare a mistrial.

During the trial, the defence argued Mr. Walker was a concerned father trying to rescue his then-16-year-old daughter from a drug addiction that was threatening to kill her after she had left the family home and moved in with Mr. Hayward.

Both Mr. Hayward, a sometime award-winning bodybuilder who sold marijuana and had been convicted of trafficking, and Jadah Walker were using morphine.

But the prosecution characterized Mr. Walker as a murderer who planned before shooting an unarmed man who did nothing more than tell him to get out of his house.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007