Shannon Payne knows nothing will bring back her daughter who was murdered in Newmarket in July 2022.
But her sorrow over the loss is only deepened by the outrage she and her family feel with the sentencing of Alexander Jolly, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Nicole Mercer.
Jolly, who fired a gun through a door when Mercer knocked on it more than two years ago, was sentenced Jan. 17 to nine years in jail.
“It’s not nearly enough. I don’t agree with the manslaughter charge at all,” Payne said. “I know nothing brings her back, but nine years is really ridiculous. He took her life.”
In an agreed statement of facts, Jolly, now 25, and his friends were in his room at a Prospect Street house when Mercer left because of the noise. When she returned and knocked on the door, Jolly pointed the gun and fired.
Mercer, the mother of a five-year-old at the time, was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
Police arrested Jolly in September 2022. He was initially charged with second-degree murder and several firearms offences, but ended up pleading guilty to a lesser manslaughter charge in August 2024.
The court process was difficult for the family, Payne said. The Newmarket resident added that she does not believe Jolly did it unintentionally, despite the court's finding. She said that given Jolly had taken a life, she had hoped for a life sentence, though she recognized that was not going to happen.
“It was awful, traumatic for all of us. We don’t really have any say in it,” she said. “We were told the Crown (attorney) wasn’t even sure he would get a conviction, so he just plead out. He thought they would think that Alex shot her by mistake, and Alex was going with his story that it was an accidental discharge.
“It was troubling, and it took a really long time for nothing, it seems like,” Payne added.
According to an article by Ontario law firm Kruse Law, manslaughter involving firearms typically carries a minimum sentence of four years. Average sentencing for manslaughter cases has generally fallen between seven to eight years looking at data across Canada, according to Kruse Law.
The court experience was emotionally draining, Payne said. She said it does not do anything for her family.
“It doesn’t change anything. We’re just going to move forward best we can,” she said.
After everything, Payne does not have a positive view of the justice system.
“Our justice system is seriously flawed,” Payne said. “A life for a life. He gave her a life sentence, why shouldn’t he get one?”
