Regina woman pleads guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of Samson Goodwill

Ragan Lavallee pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday for her involvement in the 2018 shooting death of 21-year-old Samson Goodwill. She was sentenced to five years in prison minus two months for time served. 

Lavallee was originally charged with second-degree murder along with Justin Christopher Ford, who has yet to be tried.

The Crown and defence made a joint submission for the sentence in Court of Queen's Bench in Regina.

Lavallee addressed the court, saying she hoped Goodwill's family could forgive her.

What happened?

An agreed statement of facts submitted Wednesday provides a timeline of the events leading up to Goodwill's death.

Lavallee, who was 18 at the time, went to buy drugs from Goodwill at his home on April 5, 2018, the statement says. She returned home and told Ford about the drugs. They then decided to go back to Goodwill's home to rob him for his drugs, the statement says. 

Ford hid a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle in the sleeve of his shirt. Lavallee knew he had this gun when they went back to Goodwill's house, the statement says. 

When the two arrived at Goodwill's house, Ford aimed the gun at Goodwill and said "Give me all your shit."

Goodwill replied, saying "Shoot me then."

Ford fired once, after which Lavallee said "You weren't supposed to shoot him," the statement says.

Lavallee was interviewed as a witness two days after the shooting. She later gave a statement which explained her involvement.

In addition to her sentence, she has a 10-year firearm prohibition. She also has to submit a DNA sample to be entered into a database.