Dennis Robert White was sentenced to 16 years without parole on Friday for the second-degree murder of Lee Matasi.
Matasi, a popular young artist, was shot, execution-style, outside of a downtown Vancouver nightclub on Dec. 3, 2005. He was 23 years old at the time.
"I think my son would be happy with the outcome today," said Susan Jessop, Matasi's mother, outside of the courthouse.
"I hadn't imagined sixteen (years), but as I say we were very satisfied with that," she said.
White received an automatic life sentence when he was convicted of second-degree murder, but today was given a sentence for time without parole.
Lou Matasi, Lee's father, said he hopes the sentence will send a message.
"Well, emotionally, I'll never have my son back," he said. "In some ways I'm relieved that the sixteen years, hopefully, will send a message out that enough is enough."
The Crown asked for 15 to 18 years without parole, and the defence asked for the minimum ten years. The defence will appeal the sentence, they said.
Defence lawyer Terry LaLiberte said he will be appealing the sentence.
"I think it's at the high end and I think that there is some of the character of the individual wasn't taken into consideration," he told reporters.
Matasi and White had a confrontation after White fired a gun outside a downtown nightclub, and Matasi objected. White hit Matasi in the head with the gun and then shot him in the chest.
Footage from a nightclub security camera captured Matasi trying to escape his killer before he was shot. Footage from another camera showed Matasi's friends tending to him after the shooting.
Matasi was an avid skateboarder, and a Vancouver skateboard park was named in his honour. He also had a promising career as an artist and was weeks away from moving to Paris where he was going to live for a year with his girlfriend.
The defence admitted Matasi had been shot by White. But they contended the Crown had failed to prove there was intention to kill, and the accused should therefore be convicted of manslaughter, not second-degree murder.
"No one leaves home with a gun with good intentions ... in an urban environment," Jessop said.
"What a waste. What a bloody waste this whole thing has been about," she said. "One young man is dead, that's my son, another man's going to jail for a very long time, and for what?"
Jessop told CTV News before going into the courthouse on Friday morning she hopes parents can encourage their kids to be engaged.
"If there is a message that comes out of his life, I hope that parents engage their kids in art and sport, and keep them off the street and away from the video games that promote senseless violence, from my perspective," she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dag Sharman
