In January, a jury acquitted Nickerson of both murder counts after he testified he shot the men in self-defence.
The jury convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter for Williams’ death.
Justice Eric Macklin said the violence was the culmination of a “volatile” relationship between the Suttons and the Nickersons, who he called a “rural Alberta version of the Hatfields and McCoys.”
The deadly dispute began after 11 p.m. on April 2, 2017, a Sunday evening.
Williams’ aunt, who read a victim impact statement, said her 40-year-old nephew had finished a shift at the oilfield company where he worked as a supervisor, and planned to fly home to Prince Edward Island to see family later that week. He was celebrating with Sutton — his longtime friend who was renting him a room.