Darryl Sheepway, found guilty earlier this month of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 13 years for shooting his drug dealer Christopher Brisson in 2015, is appealing his conviction and sentence.
In a notice of appeal filed May 17, Sheepway claims that his conviction was “unreasonable” and that the sentence imposed on him by Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower was “demonstrably unfit.” He’s also requesting that, should a new trial be ordered, it be held in front of a jury.
Sheepway was originally charged with first-degree murder in Brisson’s death. He had offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, an offer rejected by the Crown.
Throughout his judge-alone trial in late 2017, Sheepway and his defence team insisted that Brisson’s death was not murder, but an accident that occurred in the heat of a botched robbery and while Sheepway was in the throes of a crack cocaine addiction. Gower ultimately ruled that while Sheepway had not planned the killing, he ought to have known that his actions could or would lead to Brisson’s death and convicted him of second-degree murder.
Contact Jackie Hong at jackie.hong@yukon-news.com