A jury has found a Saskatchewan man guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his neighbour.
Jaycee Mildenberger stood accused in the 2009 killing of Gwenda Gregory. The 50-year-old woman was found dead in the bathtub of her Usherville, Sask. home with her neck and wrist slashed.
The 11-person jury heard Gregory was killed while her granddaughter slept in the next room.
Mildenberger has been given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years, and was credited with three years of time served.
During the three-week trial, defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle said his client was lying in two alleged confessions – one during an undercover police operation and another under interrogation by RCMP.
Pfefferle told jurors that Mildenberger lied in an attempt to protect his family and himself, believing undercover officers were organized crime bosses who could make the investigation go away. He said his client believed he would be convicted of the crime, even though he was innocent.
Pfefferle also called into question the conditions of his five hour interrogation by police in which his second confession came.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Wyatt said Mildenberger provided numerous details during the confessions that only Gregory's killer could have known.
Wyatt argued that Mildenberger's two alleged confessions provided all the reasonable evidence the jury would need to convict him of first-degree murder.
With files from CTV Yorkton’s Katherine Dow and The Canadian Press