DRUG DEALER 'DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE,' SAYS MOM

Mastermind Of Botched Crime Sent To Prison

Collin Laframboise may have been illegally selling drugs when he was
ambushed and robbed, but "he didn't deserve to die," his emotional
mother said outside court after Chace Leland Hehr, the mastermind of
the botched crime, was sent to prison.

"I know it's wrong. He should have been picked up by police and sent
to jail. He shouldn't have been killed," a sobbing Marilyn
Laframboise said outside Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday. "Collin
is portrayed as this tough guy, but he was always sweet and caring.
He loved people and helped people . . . he helped Chace many times. I
just want people to know he was a good, kind person who lived for the
mountains."

Justice Beth Hughes sentenced Hehr, 24, who pleaded guilty on April
13 to manslaughter, to five years for the April 21, 2006, crime.

Hughes cited several aggravating factors: the degree of planning and
deliberation, use of violence, planned use of a weapon, the victim
being unarmed, and sharing of proceeds with an accomplice.

"There were devastating consequences of these acts on Mr.
Laframboise's family," said the judge. "There is no value intended to
be placed on a life by this sentence. . . . No sentence will ever
breathe life into the deceased or restore him to his family."

Hehr admitted he plotted with Scott Keeler to have Laframboise, 28,
bring drugs to his home, then Keeler would knock him out with a wire
cable, steal his backpack and flee.

However, the victim fought back before chasing Keeler down an alley
behind Halifax Crescent N.W. There, he was stabbed 10 times by
Keeler, who was carrying a knife unbeknownst to his accomplice.
Laframboise bled to death from a wound to the femoral artery in his leg.

The victim's mother, who travelled from home in Guelph, Ont., with
her husband Keith Charette -- the victim's stepfather -- and Collin's
brother Todd, was clearly upset at what she felt was a lenient sentence.

With double credit for time spent in custody since his arrest last
Sept. 14 -- following a five-month investigation -- Hehr has just
three years and five months to serve.

"This was a planned, calculated act, where Mr. Laframboise was not
expecting anything," Crown prosector Les Grieve said in arguing for a
sentence of seven to 10 years. "(Hehr) agreed to the plan to lure him
to his home, with Keeler lying in wait to knock him unconscious but
to survive, then he received the proceeds of the robbery."

Grieve noted $6,000 cash and $4,800 in marijuana was taken and split up.

Hehr turned in the prisoner's dock and apologized to the family,
saying "there's not a day goes by that I don't think about it. I'm very sorry."

Defence lawyer Harry Van Harten, seeking a sentence of three to five
years, emphasized his client's remorse as a key factor. "This
(victim) was someone he knew well and met an untimely, unfortunate
and unintended end," Van Harten told the judge. "He wasn't directly
involved in the assault, but played his part."

Justice David Wilkins will give the verdict in Keeler's trial on Thursday.