AWAITING VERDICT

YORKTON -- As jury deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of
Kim Walker ended after a second day with still no verdict, the brother
of victim James Hayward expressed disgust and sadness that Walker has
been celebrated in some corners and his brother has been demonized.

The trial has attracted national attention as the defence has
portrayed Walker as a father desperate to rescue his daughter from a
drug addiction when he went to Hayward's home and shot and killed him
in front of his daughter Jadah at his home on March 17, 2003.

A drug dealer who sold marijuana, Hayward was the boyfriend and lived
with Jadah, 16.

"I think it's despicable the way that this community has tried to turn
Kim Walker into some kind of small-town hero for executing my brother
when he was trespassing in his home," Hayward's younger brother Danny,
22, told a horde of reporters on the Yorkton courthouse steps shortly
before the jury broke for the evening.

With friends and family members including his mother and father behind
him, Danny Hayward said his brother -- at one time an award-winning
bodybuilder -- was a kind person who never forced anything on anyone.

"All of the memories I have left are tainted by memories of what
happened to him because of Kim Walker," said Hayward, who lives in
Edmonton.

The jury began its considerations just before noon on Wednesday after
Justice Jennifer Pritchard directed them to find at the minimum a
verdict that Walker -- who has admitted causing Hayward's death but
said he did not intend to kill him -- was guilty of
manslaughter.

Continuing from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday with only breaks for lunch
and supper, the eight-woman, four-man jury is apparently still
struggling between finding Walker guilty of manslaughter -- where
there is no intent to kill -- or first or second-degree murder.

"No matter what verdict comes back, it's not going to change the fact
that I'm an only child now," said Danny Hayward.

The wait is a strain on both the Hayward and Walker families, who stay
in separate areas at the Yorkton courthouse while the lobby is filled
with media and the simply curious.

Defence attorney Morris Bodnar said Walker and his family are coping
with the wait for a verdict.

"My client's been waiting four years. These hours aren't easy but it
isn't much different."

Walker's daughter Jadah broke her silence this week, telling CBC in a
brief statement Wednesday night that she owed her life to her parents.

"I'm very thankful and lucky that I have parents that care as much as
they do, otherwise I wouldn't be here today," she said.

Walker has said he remembers only "flashes" and nothing of the actual
shooting.

While the family had been concerned about Jadah's behavior and health
for months, the shooting occurred shortly after Walker and his wife
received an anonymous letter in March of 2003 saying that Jadah and
Hayward were injecting morphine.

On the advice of the RCMP, they sought and received from a provincial
court judge a Mental Health Act warrant committing Jadah to Yorkton
hospital's psychiatric ward for a weekend assessment of her drug problem.

On the Monday Jadah was released, friends picked her up from her
parents' home and reunited her with Hayward.

The court has heard that Walker then went to Hayward's home with a
Luger M80 semi-automatic pistol. After asking a resistant Jadah to
come home, he shot Hayward in front of his daughter and other witnesses.

Hayward bled to death in the front room of his house after being shot
five times by Walker, once in the back at close range.

There is much at stake in how the jury decides between
convictions.

Sentencing will be imposed by Pritchard.

But first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life
imprisonment, with the first eligibility for parole in 25 years.
Second-degree murder also carries mandatory life imprisonment but the
judge can set eligibility for parole between 10 and 25 years.

Sentencing for manslaughter is determined by the judge but
manslaughter using a firearm requires a mandatory minimum sentence of
four years imprisonment.