A teen convicted in December of gunning another down on New Year’s Day 2013 will be sentenced in May.
The Red Deer youth, who was 17 at the time of the murder and can’t be named, was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder last Dec. 2.
He appeared for arraignment in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday and a sentencing date of May 3-4 confirmed.
The Crown prosecutor’s office previously served notice that it intended to seek an adult sentence for the convicted man. The mandatory adult sentence for first-degree murder in the case of a 17-year-old is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.
If sentenced as a youth, the sentence is 10 years, including up to six years in custody followed by four years of community supervision.
Lloyd Robert Sarson, 25, was gunned down around 5:20 a.m. as he sat in the driver’s seat of a car that had stopped in an Eastview alley. His front passenger got out, turned and fired repeatedly at Sarson. He was hit by eight bullets and died at the scene.
The brutal killing was witnessed by another man who was sitting in the back seat. He testified about what he saw during the trial.
A pre-sentence report and a Gladue report, which are available to help the court determine appropriate sentences for First Nations and Métis offenders, are being prepared ahead of sentencing.