Edmonton man sentenced to 8½ years for unintentional shotgun killing
CBC
An Edmonton man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the February 2019 death of 42-year-old Desmond Gordon apologized Monday to the victim's family and his own parents.
"What I've done was senseless," Matthew Campeau, 27, told an Edmonton courtroom.
"It was so easily avoided ... I had no right to do what I did that night."
Accepting a joint sentencing submission from the Crown and defence, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Eric Macklin sentenced Campeau to 8½ years in prison.
With credit for time served, he has just over six years left in custody.
By Feb. 26, 2019, Campeau had been mostly awake for nine days, high on crystal meth.
He wasn't thinking straight. The lack of sleep and the drugs made his hands shake violently.
He had a gun and a plan to confront Gordon for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he thought of as his "street sister."
Late that night, Campeau and Jaremy Krause drove in a stolen vehicle to Gordon's northeast Edmonton townhouse, where they bought methamphetamine.
The two men smoked the drugs in the vehicle before Krause went back inside to say he couldn't pay.
Campeau got a shotgun out of the trunk. He had stolen it a few days earlier, but it had been disassembled and was in extremely poor condition.
According to an agreed statement of facts, "Campeau intended to point the shotgun at Mr. Gordon and get Mr. Gordon to confess to the sexual assault."
He walked into the townhouse and pointed the gun at Gordon, who was sitting on the couch.
A witness heard a clicking sound and Campeau checked the gun. Suddenly the firearm discharged and a slug hit Gordon in the chest.
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