Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Copyright: 2007 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 Author: James Wood, Saskatchewan News Network; CanWest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) AWAITING VERDICT YORKTON -- As jury deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of Kim Walker ended after a second day with still no verdict, the brother of victim James Hayward expressed disgust and sadness that Walker has been celebrated in some corners and his brother has been demonized. The trial has attracted national attention as the defence has portrayed Walker as a father desperate to rescue his daughter from a drug addiction when he went to Hayward's home and shot and killed him in front of his daughter Jadah at his home on March 17, 2003. A drug dealer who sold marijuana, Hayward was the boyfriend and lived with Jadah, 16. "I think it's despicable the way that this community has tried to turn Kim Walker into some kind of small-town hero for executing my brother when he was trespassing in his home," Hayward's younger brother Danny, 22, told a horde of reporters on the Yorkton courthouse steps shortly before the jury broke for the evening. With friends and family members including his mother and father behind him, Danny Hayward said his brother -- at one time an award-winning bodybuilder -- was a kind person who never forced anything on anyone. "All of the memories I have left are tainted by memories of what happened to him because of Kim Walker," said Hayward, who lives in Edmonton. The jury began its considerations just before noon on Wednesday after Justice Jennifer Pritchard directed them to find at the minimum a verdict that Walker -- who has admitted causing Hayward's death but said he did not intend to kill him -- was guilty of manslaughter. Continuing from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday with only breaks for lunch and supper, the eight-woman, four-man jury is apparently still struggling between finding Walker guilty of manslaughter -- where there is no intent to kill -- or first or second-degree murder. "No matter what verdict comes back, it's not going to change the fact that I'm an only child now," said Danny Hayward. The wait is a strain on both the Hayward and Walker families, who stay in separate areas at the Yorkton courthouse while the lobby is filled with media and the simply curious. Defence attorney Morris Bodnar said Walker and his family are coping with the wait for a verdict. "My client's been waiting four years. These hours aren't easy but it isn't much different." Walker's daughter Jadah broke her silence this week, telling CBC in a brief statement Wednesday night that she owed her life to her parents. "I'm very thankful and lucky that I have parents that care as much as they do, otherwise I wouldn't be here today," she said. Walker has said he remembers only "flashes" and nothing of the actual shooting. While the family had been concerned about Jadah's behavior and health for months, the shooting occurred shortly after Walker and his wife received an anonymous letter in March of 2003 saying that Jadah and Hayward were injecting morphine. On the advice of the RCMP, they sought and received from a provincial court judge a Mental Health Act warrant committing Jadah to Yorkton hospital's psychiatric ward for a weekend assessment of her drug problem. On the Monday Jadah was released, friends picked her up from her parents' home and reunited her with Hayward. The court has heard that Walker then went to Hayward's home with a Luger M80 semi-automatic pistol. After asking a resistant Jadah to come home, he shot Hayward in front of his daughter and other witnesses. Hayward bled to death in the front room of his house after being shot five times by Walker, once in the back at close range. There is much at stake in how the jury decides between convictions. Sentencing will be imposed by Pritchard. But first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, with the first eligibility for parole in 25 years. Second-degree murder also carries mandatory life imprisonment but the judge can set eligibility for parole between 10 and 25 years. Sentencing for manslaughter is determined by the judge but manslaughter using a firearm requires a mandatory minimum sentence of four years imprisonment. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake