BY KEITH LACEY
With the senseless pull of a trigger, a Garson senior ended one life and ensured his could very well end behind bars.
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A six-man, five-woman jury deliberated for about six hours before finding Jerry Paiement, 64, guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Mark Houle, 37.
The trial heard Houle and Paiement had been feuding for years, exclusively about Houle continually trespassing onto PaiementÂ?s property. HouleÂ?s father lived two doors down from Paiement on Falconbridge Road in Garson.
The evening of June 5, 2001, the two men got into a heated argument, which ended with Paiement firing one bullet from a .44-calibre revolver he retrieved from inside his home. Houle was hit in the abdomen and died minutes after being shot.
Justice Louise Gauthier sentenced Paiement to life imprisonment and imposed the minimum sentence of 10 years with no eligibility of parole.
She also prohibited Paiement from owning or possessing any weapon for the rest of his life.
Having served about 17 months behind bars since his arrest, Paiement will not be eligible for parole until June of 2011, when he will be 73 years old.
Â?To say the events of June 5 were tragic is certainly an understatement and to say they were avoidable is certainly an understatement,Â? said Gauthier.
A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence. The only issue to be decided was how long Paiement should spend behind bars before being eligible for parole, said Gauthier.
In imposing the minimum 10-year sentence, Gauthier said she considered PaiementÂ?s age, relatively poor health, the strong likelihood he would never reoffend and fact he had led an exemplary life without ever getting into trouble with the law until that tragic evening.
Â?Mr. Paiement was leading a quiet, modest lifestyle and appeared to bother and disturb no one his entire life up until that day,Â? she said. Â?However, the community is entitled to expect someone will not use a gun and shoot someone for walking across his property.Â?
PaiementÂ?s actions were Â?grossly disproportionateÂ? to the actions of a man trespassing onto his property and perhaps displaying disrespect, she said.
HouleÂ?s father Arthur and stepmother Jacquie did not want to speak to the media following the verdict and sentencing; however, his cousin said the verdict is just and hopefully family members can move on with their lives.
Â?ItÂ?s been very tough and weÂ?re just glad this is all over,Â? she said.
