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Pine Lake shooter to spend more time behind bars

Cory Lavallee also receives a lifetime ban on owning firearms
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The Pine Lake shooter was sentenced to nine years behind bars for attempted murder.

Cory Lavallee’s jail sentence, as handed down by Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Terrance Clackson this week, includes the equivalent of four years he spent in pre-trial custody. It means Lavallee has five years remaining on his sentence.

He also received a lifetime ban on owning firearms.

The 31-year-old Lavallee was previously convicted by a jury of shooting and wounding Donald Bernie Brown, at a rural residence in the Pine Lake area on June 2, 2014.

Brown, 31 at the time, was hit in the face by a round from a .22-calibre rifle. When he dropped to the ground, Lavallee shot him again in the face.

The wounded man still managed to flee to a neighbouring residence for help.

Lavallee was questioned for almost 20 hours over two days by police after his arrest near Bashaw two weeks after the shooting. And jury members saw parts of the videotaped interview at his trial.

“I feel bad for shooting Donnie, I really do. I wish it hadn’t f—king happened,” he told police.

Later, Lavallee claimed he was not the shooter, but took the blame because he feared for his family’s safety from higher-ups in the drug trade. He claimed he could not identify the real shooter for fear of repercussions.

The jury did not believe him. The four men and eight women took four hours to reach a guilty verdict in October.