HALIFAX — A judge has agreed to postpone a Halifax murderer's sentencing pending an assessment of how his African-Nova Scotian background might have "played a role" in the crime.
Kale Leonard Gabriel's defence team told a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge today it is preparing a "cultural assessment" on his racial background.
The 27-year-old Gabriel was convicted in February of second-degree murder for the 2010 shooting of Ryan White in the Mulgrave Park housing project.
Brandon Rolle, who devised the legal strategy, says he believes cultural assessments are the way of the future for sentencing African-Nova Scotians.
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence, and today's hearing was to determine when Gabriel will be eligible for parole.
The court will hear arguments about the cultural assessment on August 16.
