Kevin Mantla’s appeal against his conviction and sentencing for the murder of Elvis Lafferty 11 years ago has been dismissed.
In 2018, Mantla was sentenced to life in prison – with no parole for at least 20 years – for Lafferty’s murder and the attempted murder of Mantla’s former girlfriend.
Mantla had asserted he should have been convicted of manslaughter, not second-degree murder, as he is Indigenous, his lawyer colluded with the Crown, and he told police he didn’t mean to kill Lafferty at a Yellowknife apartment in 2015. Crown counsel previously called the suggestion of collusion a “wild” allegation.
In a decision released on Wednesday, a three-judge NWT Court of Appeal panel found “the record does not support the appellant’s arguments.”
The judges said a special commissioner had already rejected Mantla’s argument that he received ineffective assistance from his lawyer at trial.
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The appeal court ruled that Mantla’s insistence that he did not intend to kill ultimately had no bearing on a finding that murder took place.
“Notwithstanding an expressed lack of intention to kill, it is still possible to find the mens rea required for second-degree murder and attempted murder,” the judges wrote. (Mens rea refers to the accused’s state of mind in relation to a crime.)
“We are satisfied the evidence overwhelmingly supports the trial judge’s finding the appellant had the requisite intent for second degree murder and attempted murder.”
The panel said Mantla’s additional suggestion of judicial bias was “without merit” and the judges could find no “reviewable error” in either his sentence or the period of parole ineligibility he was given.
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In dismissing the appeal, the judges referred to the “extremely aggravating” domestic context of Mantla’s “unprovoked offences” and the violent nature of the attacks, writing that “all parties involved in these horrific events were Indigenous, and the survivors have been deeply and irreversible affected.”
“Mr Lafferty also left behind two young children who were orphaned by his murder, their mother having predeceased him,” the appellate court wrote.
“As the trial judge found, there were no mitigating factors.”
