The man convicted of shooting Vancouver artist Lee Matasi to death outside a downtown nightclub in 2005 has had his sentence appeal dismissed.
Dennis Robert White was found guilty of second-degree murder in November 2007 and given life in prison with no parole eligibility for 16 years.
White's lawyer appealed his parole eligibility this month, arguing that the "harsh" sentence fell outside the range of sentences given to similar offenders in similar circumstances.
But after reviewing a number of comparable cases submitted by both White's lawyer and the Crown, the BC Court of Appeal disagreed.
In a decision released Monday, Justice Risa Levine wrote that the sentence is "not demonstrably unfit, and there is no principled basis for this Court to interfere."
White's lawyer also agued the trial judge should have given more consideration to White's clean criminal record, genuine remorse for his actions and the number of family and friends who submitted letters of support.
The court found the judge had merely given "more weight to denunciation of the crime than to the appellant's mitigating personal characteristics."
"The trial judge was particularly concerned that the sentence deter and express society's denunciation of firearms offences," Levine wrote.
Witnesses say Matasi was killed "execution-style" outside the Red Room nightclub on Dec. 3, 2005.
The 23-year-old had been trying to intervene in a confrontation that erupted after White fired a gun into the air outside the club. Surveillance camera footage shows Matasi trying to escape his killer before being shot.
Matasi, who had a promising career as an artist, was weeks away from moving to Paris with his girlfriend. A Vancouver skateboard park was named in his honour.
