Morley woman sentenced to 2 years in prison for stabbing partner to death
Client: Vanessa Poucette
Charge: Murder
Prosecution: reasonable doubt for murder with intent
Defence: act of self-defense after suffering years of abuse
Sentence: two years in prison
Brennon Twoyoungmen died in October 2016 after being stabbed in the chest by Vanessa Poucette
A southern Alberta woman who stabbed her common-law partner to death has been sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years of probation.
The sentence was delivered in Calgary on Friday.
Vanessa Poucette killed Brennon Twoyoungmen, 42, during an argument in Morley, west of Calgary, in October 2016.
A Calgary judge found her guilty of manslaughter earlier in 2019.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice David Gates delivered his decision in February.
"I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt your conduct in stabbing Mr. Twoyoungmen was not reasonable in the circumstances," Gates told Poucette at the time.
The trial began in April 2018, with closing arguments in June 2018.
Defence lawyer Alain Hepner had painted Poucette as a battered woman who endured years of abuse.
But prosecutor Jillian Pawlow argued Poucette's actions were not an act of self-defence.
The couple fought the night Twoyoungmen died. When Poucette called 911, she told the operator her partner of six years had tried to choke her.
Twoyoungmen was still alive and conscious when Poucette, 49, called 911 from her brother's home on the Morley reserve. But there was confusion over the address. It took paramedics nearly an hour to get to the victim.
By the time they arrived, Twoyoungmen had died.
After Poucette was taken into police custody by Cochrane RCMP, she was photographed. She had a cut on her lip and bruises on her body.
Source: CBC News