A jury has found two men guilty in the death of Andrew Mixemong in Midland in 2012.
The jury found Jessy Herlichka guilty of second degree murder and Paul McClung guilty of manslaughter
The 59-year-old well known First Nations man was beaten outside of Dino’s Deli in Midland in July of 2012.
Mixemong was there to pick-up his wife who worked at the restaurant when a fight broke out. He later died in hospital.
“You know, he did not deserve this, he did not deserve this at all and that’s the way I feel and I want people to remember him for what he did for the community,” says his sister Kimberly Mixemong.
The ten week trial has been hard on the family. They say the verdict brings some comfort but it will never bring him back.
“I’m happy yeah because by parents are with my siblings up there and for this I have mixed emotions,” said Mixemong’s sister Theresa Vanderstel.
The defence lawyer for Herlichka had tried to argue his client didn’t mean to kill anyone but was so drunk and high he didn’t know what he was doing.
The lawyer representing McClung says his client doesn’t think he did anything wrong.
“Maybe in a couple days the shock will wear off and we’ll understand how he ended up in this situation but for the time being his a big mystified to how he finds himself convicted,” says Paul McClung’s lawyer Chris Hanson.
The jury also had an opportunity on Friday to make recommendations to the judge about sentencing for Herlichka because of the second-degree murder conviction. They recommended he not be eligible for parole for a minimum of ten years.
The two men will be sentenced in June.