Accused killer Sean Haverty sat quietly in Ontario Superior Court Tuesday, head bowed in the prisoner`s box as the family of Chris Schweitzer told the court how his death has shattered their worlds.
Schweitzer died in 2015, shot in the throat on the porch of his own home on Tiffany Street by a drunk neighbour whose ongoing dislike for the man boiled over.
Haverty was charged with first degree murder. In April, a jury took four hours to find him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Tuesday was the day for submissions from the prosecution and defence in regards to sentencing.
The crown is seeking 12 years on top of time already served. The defence wants three years or less on top of time served. Justice Nancy Mossip will hand down that sentence on July 11.
But the focus on Tuesday, as it usually is at this stage of the process, was on the emotional victim impact statements read in court by family members.
Crown attorney Judith MacDonald read those from the Schweitzer family, who were sitting in the gallery but chose not to read them themselves.
"I feel empty, I feel sad. You have really screwed up my family by taking Chris," said the victim's wife Missy Chartrand, who sobbed loudly in the courtroom as her letter was read.
"You've made me scared and unsafe in my own home. I do not want to live anymore. I do not deserve to be scared all the time," Chartrand said.
"I hope you get everything you deserve."
Karen Thompson lost her only sibling and said that she struggles with the loss every day.
"My life was turned upside down in a blink of an eye," Thompson said. "One evil man has caused this."
"The only thing I have left is memories. That's the one thing you can't take from me," Thompson said.
Schweitzer's father George said his family can "no longer live an ordinary life" and his mother Linda said a child is never supposed to die before their parents.
"I would give anything if I could see him one more time," Linda Schweitzer said.
Nephew Derek Schweitzer said 'nothing will ever fill the hole that Chris's death made."
"He did not deserve this. We did not deserve this," said another nephew, Aaron Schweitzer.
Haverty briefly addressed the court, saying he "deeply regretted" what had happened.
"If I could go back and change the events of that fateful day I surely would," Haverty said.
"I offer my sincere condolences to the family of the deceased, but I know they are of no comfort in the absence of a loved one."
Letters of support were also read in for Haverty from his longtime partner, his brother, mother and father.
Pam Feenstra called her spouse "a compassionate partner and friend" and, a "responsible pet owner."
"In all my heart and soul I know he is a good person to the core," Feenstra's letter read.
Others called him "warm," "kind" and "compassionate."
The crown attorney called the manslaughter of Schweitzer "a near-murder scenario."
She called for a total sentence of 15 years - 12 on the manslaughter conviction and three on a pair of weapons convictions associated with the crime. She said the time served in custody should cover the three years on the weapons charges.
She said there were a number of "aggravating factors" and that the death of Chris Schweitzer happened because "Sean Haverty decided to get drunk and shoot Chris Schweitzer simply because he didn't like him."
MacDonald said a sentence of nine to 15 years is the range based on case law.
Defence lawyer Ari Goldkind said the "appropriate" range is "nowhere close to the crown's range" and that a "proper" sentence would be five years less pre-trial custody.
Goldkind said Haverty offered to plead guilty to manslaughter prior to the trial but that the crown turned him down. The crown argued no formal offer was ever made by the defence.
It also became clear that at some point leading up to the trial the crown's office offered a deal of a "lesser charge" than first-degree murder, but that Haverty rejected the offer, which was likely second-degree murder.
"I proposed something not manslaughter," MacDonald told the judge.
Goldkind also scoffed at the "near-murder scenario" reference made by the crown, saying the jury determined it was manslaughter and rejected any type of murder conviction.
