2 Winnipeg teens who killed man trying to protect daughter sentenced as adults

WINNIPEG – Two Winnipeg teens have been handed adult sentences for a gang-related killing they committed when they were 15 years old.

Brendon Sinclair and Jordan Murdock, who are now 18, were sentenced Thursday to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years for beating to death 48-year-old Joseph Lalonde in August 2011.

Sinclair and Murdock beat Lalonde as he tried to protect his pregnant daughter in the backyard of his own home.

The two teens were riding their bicycles past Lalonde’s house and saw people in the backyard displaying gang signs.

The pair were affiliated with another street gang and got a baseball bat and a pellet gun and returned, attacking Lalonde’s daughter before Lalonde stepped in and attempted to fend them off.

During their trial last June, Sinclair’s lawyer argued it was Murdock who held the bat during the assault and dealt the fatal blows but a jury convicted both of second-degree murder.

The maximum youth sentence is four years in custody and three in the community under court conditions.

A hearing will take place in the next few months to determine where Sinclair and Murdock will serve their time.

(CJOB)