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.
Defence lawyer Akram Attia asked for the mandatory minimum sentence of four years and suggested the discharge of the shotgun was accidental or was done to scare Williams. This is as close as you can get to an accidental or unintentional causing of the death of Mr. Williams, Attia said.
Both sides agreed that Nickerson was instantly remorseful and quickly left the scene to turn himself in so paramedics could do their work.
Court of Queen s Bench Justice Eric Macklin called the situation fluid, dangerous and extremely dynamic and said he had no doubt that Nickerson and his wife were terrified when Sutton and his wife entered their home.
Posted: Jan 27, 2021 4:52 PM MT | Last Updated: January 27
Blood-stained front sidewalk in front of the house in Chipman where two men were shot.(RCMP/Court exhibit)
An Edmonton jury on Wednesday found Raymond Nickerson not guilty on two counts of second-degree murder in the 2017 deaths of two men in Chipman, Alta., but guilty on a single count of manslaughter.
Nickerson had been on trial for second-degree murder in the deaths of Jason Williams and Terry Sutton after a dispute in the village 70 kilometres east of Edmonton.
The jury deliberated Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before announcing it had found Nickerson, 40, not guilty on both second-degree murder charges, but guilty of manslaughter in the death of Williams.