A New Lowell man convicted in the 2013 shooting death of his wife has been handed a prison sentence.
In a Barrie court on Wednesday, Mitchell Brooks was sentenced to seven years behind bars after he was found guilty of manslaughter earlier this year.
Brooks will get credit from time already served, which means he will only be behind bars for two and a half years. A judge ruled that Brooks will have to provide a DNA sample and will be prohibited from owning any firearms for the rest of his life.
Brooks sat with his eyes closed as Justice Guy DiTomaso read part of his daughter’s victim impact statement.
"She lost her mother but she does not wish to lose her father too. She wishes to save whatever relationship they have together,” DiTomaso says. “Haunted by the thought of not being able to help her father when he needed her the most.”
A jury found Brooks guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting his wife – Deena Brooks – during a struggle over a handgun in 2013.
Brooks testified he never intended to kill Deena and that he suffered from depression and wanted to commit suicide after she told him she wanted a divorce.
"It's been a very difficult time that he has spent in custody for the last three years without knowing what the outcome was going to be,” says defence lawyer Kimberley Miles. “Now at least there is a final decision that's been made, and he can move forward from here, and there is an end in sight for him as well."
The minimum prison sentence in this case would have been four years.
The Crown had asked Brooks spend up to eight years behind bars, while the defence argued the time he already spent in jail was enough and that Deena’s death was an accident.
