Killers get 14 years, avoid life sentences

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This article was published 30/06/2023 (991 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tyler Yarema was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” when he was shot dead by attackers bent on revenge for a violent carjacking committed by another man hours earlier, a Winnipeg court has heard.

However, five men charged with second-degree murder for the November 2021 killing at a St. Vital neighbourhood home are no longer facing the prospect of a life sentence in prison.

Keegan Little, 25, Bryce Alexander Keating, 24, Jamie Rae Shorting, 25, Jamie Lee Rudolph, 34, and Jake Steven Ducharme, 33, admitted to the lesser offence of manslaughter in a plea bargain that resulted in each of them being sentenced to 14 years in prison.

On Thursday, Crown attorney Ari Millo said weaknesses in the evidence left prosecutors unable to establish who the shooter was, increasing the possibility of outright acquittals had the case gone to trial.

“We say there is no question they attended with a common purpose of retribution,” Millo told Court of King’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey. “The bigger challenge would have been proving intent (to kill) and knowledge.

“While the co-accuseds avoided a murder conviction and life sentence by virtue of their pleas, the Crown has secured manslaughter convictions on all five and joint recommendations for significant penitentiary sentences,” Millo said.

“There is a measure of justice in that, even if it is not the result we hoped for.”

Court heard Little was the target of a violent carjacking hours before the killing, and knew one of his attackers as someone who lived at the St. Vital townhouse.

Security video showed Little and the four co-accused arriving at the rear of the home around 5 a.m. Little tried to break down the door, before falling and returning to his car as the four co- accused stormed into the house and exited just 45 seconds later.

“Immediately upon entering, one of the co-accused shot and killed a family dog,” Millo said.

One of the home invaders, later identified as Ducharme, ran upstairs and grabbed the accused carjacker’s girlfriend by the hair, yelling, “Where is he?” Millo said.

A male witness who was also upstairs said another accused who he could not identify pointed a handgun at him and pulled the trigger two times, but the weapon didn’t fire.

The witness said he saw Ducharme and the armed co-accused run downstairs and then heard a gunshot and the invaders leaving through the back door.

The man went downstairs to find Yarema, who did not live at the house but had been sleeping on a couch, suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

Yarema, 42, died in hospital less than an hour later.

“It appears the victim was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time or had been misidentified as (the alleged carjacker),” Millo said.

Security video did not show a gun in the hand of any of the four men who went into the house, Millo said. Even if the man seen with a gun could be identified, there is nothing to say a co-accused wasn’t armed as well and was responsible for shooting Yarema, the Crown added.

A case for murder against Little, who didn’t enter the house, was tougher still, Millo said.

“There is no question that the attack on Keegan Little precipitated the participant’s attendance to (the house) where the victim was shot,” he said.

“He marshaled the forces there, resulting in the victim’s death. Notwithstanding that, the case against Keegan Little was significantly weaker in the fact that he never entered the residence.”

The alleged carjacker’s girlfriend provided a verbal account to police at the scene that would have helped prosecutors, but she later denied making the comments and resisted repeated requests to provide a formal police statement, Millo said.

“(She) could have made the difference in this case and bolstered our argument for second-degree murder,” Millo said.

“We all hoped she would ultimately co-operate, based on the nature of her relationship with the victim, who was a friend, but sadly that never materialized and we were never able to fill the gaps in the evidence that we needed.”

All five convicted killers declined an opportunity to address court or apologise to Yarema’s family seated in the court gallery.

A family member contacted by the Free Press did not reply to a message for comment.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca