A man found guilty of manslaughter for the killing of his wife has been handed a sentence that is less than half of what Crown prosecutors had sought.Brent McCook, 28, was charged with manslaughter after he discharged a firearm that killed his wife, Rochelle Poole, in the remote First Nations community of Kwadacha in Northern British Columbia in January of 2024.During the day of the incident it was ruled that McCook was "profoundly intoxicated" and had been on a 17-hour drinking bender, a time frame the court characterized as a period of "extreme alcohol consumption.”It was stated that both McCook and his wife had been drinking heavily after spending $600 at a liquor store in Mackenzie, BC, before heading home.“Mr. McCook consumed very large quantities of alcohol and became profoundly intoxicated,” Justice Sandra Sukstorf stated in court. "Witnesses and responding police officers consistently described him as incoherent, erratic, confused and severely impaired.”McCook is then reported to have discharged a firearm inside his house, which then struck and killed his wife, who was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked vehicle parked in the driveway..During the McCook trial, the Crown sought a sentence of 16 years in prison, but Justice Sukstorf ended up giving McCook just six and a half years, less than half of what the Crown sought.The lessened sentence was decided due to McCook's intoxication and lack of wherewithal at the time of the killing, as well as his indigenous heritage.In terms of the alcohol aspect, the report from the court reads that "alcohol misuse in Mr. McCook’s life developed within a broader pattern of family trauma and normalization within his social environment. As a result, his extreme intoxication on the night of the offence cannot be viewed entirely in isolation from that context."The report also gives the possible "trauma" inflicted on McCook's two children by their father's incarceration."Mr. McCook’s two sons have now lost their mother and their father’s presence through incarceration. Without meaningful intervention, there is a risk that the same patterns of trauma, instability, and substance misuse could continue into another generation."The court also notes that since his incarceration he has participated in "Indigenous cultural programming such as sweats, smudging, drumming, and beading."His lack of a previous criminal record, his remorse expressed during the trial, and his willingness to participate in rehabilitation programs have all been cited as reasons for the lessened sentence.
