Waylon Harry was sentenced on Tuesday, May 20 for manslaughter in the death of 19-year-old Kendra Samson in December 2021.
Harry was sentenced to eight years, but with time served, has four years and eight months left to serve.
The sentence was decided by Madame Justice Marguerite Church at the Williams Lake Supreme Court just under a month following Harry's first sentence hearing for the case and over a year after Harry was found guilty of manslaughter. He was on trial for the harsher offence of second-degree murder, but Church found Harry did not have the intent required to be found guilty of murder.
Crown prosecutors and Harry's defence delivered their arguments as to what factors should play into his sentence during the April 22, 2025 hearing which stretched from 10:40 a.m. to 4:10 p.m. The Crown proposed a sentence of eight to 10 years of incarceration and defence asked for a sentence of four to five years; both proposals requested Harry serve what was left of this sentence after subtracting time already served.
Following the first hearing, Chief Fred Robbins of Esk'etemc where both Samson and the offender grew up said he was concerned Harry would be "let off easy."
Church held her decision for this later date to consider what was presented during the sentencing hearing.
