Michael Joel-Hansen
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
A Saskatoon judge says Katlim Kristian John Desjarlais-Kelly had a “clear opportunity to run away” the night he shot and killed a father of seven in the living room of a Saskatoon home.
“In this case the primary sentencing objectives are denunciation and deterrence,” Justice Krista Zerr said, adding manslaughter is one of the most “serious offences contained in the criminal code.”
In Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench on Thursday, Zerr sentenced Desjarlais-Kelly to nine years in prison — eight for manslaughter, one for possessing a gun while prohibited — in connection with the death of 48-year-old Arden Panipekeesick on Feb. 10, 2024.
During sentencing submissions, the Crown asked for a 10-year manslaughter sentence, while the defence asked for a term of no more than seven years. The two sides agreed on the firearms sentence.
Desjarlais-Kelly, 24, was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury after a trial in 2025. He was acquitted of the more serious charge of second-degree murder.
His trial heard two different versions of how the fatal shooting played out inside the home at 238 Avenue K North.
The victim’s common-law partner, Eva Pritchard, testified an altercation began after they came upstairs from the home’s basement, where they lived, and Panipekeesick told Desjarlais-Kelly, who was in the living room, to leave.
At some point a chair was thrown and both men started shooting, court heard.
Pritchard said after the barrage of gun fire, Desjarlais-Kelly left and later returned to the home, saying he’d been shot in his arm. Pritchard said while she was tending to his injury, Desjarlais-Kelly fired the fatal shot at her partner, who was in the kitchen.
“She held Arden as he took his last breath,” Zerr said, reading from her decision. “She described these events with a quiet dignity that was deeply affecting.”
Court heard the two men had a previous confrontation on the street, when Panipekeesick accused Desjarlais-Kelly of robbing him. Desjarlais-Kelly claimed the issue was resolved after this meeting. He testified he brought fentanyl to the Avenue K North home to make amends.
That’s when the victim came upstairs with two guns and fired at him, Desjarlais-Kelly testified. He said his gun misfired, and that he later fired the fatal shot while falling down, aiming at the area where he last saw the victim.
Zerr said the physical evidence supports Desjarlais-Kelly’s version of events; specifically the fact that the bullet passed through a wooden door frame before hitting the victim.
“It is possible Arden was partially obscured when struck by the bullet fragments,” she concluded.
In crafting her sentence, Zerr considered that Desjarlais-Kelly’s mother was a Sixties Scoop survivor, which led to addiction and family break-down. To escape his mother’s drug use, court heard Desjarlais-Kelly spent time with relatives who were involved with gangs.
“By the time he was 16 he was using methamphetamine on a daily basis,” said Zerr, citing a pre-sentence report.
She noted that while Desjarlais-Kelly is considered a high risk to reoffend, he also has the support of his sisters, who attended his trial, and has had success with rehabilitative programming in the past.
She described his apology to the victim’s family as “thoughtful, insightful, honest and genuine.”
With remand credit, Desjarlais-Kelly has just over five years left to serve in custody.
