After a day of deliberations, a jury in Vancouver found Dennis Robert White, 30, guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Lee Matasi, 23, a case that prompted widespread outrage over the use of handguns and calls for stricter gun control. 

Lee Matasi's mother Susan Jessop says she's grateful for the guilty verdict.
(CBC)

There were tears and joy in the courtroom when the B.C. Supreme Court jury returned the verdict at around 5:15 p.m. Thursday.

Matasi's mother, Susan Jessop, who was sitting in the front row, gasped after hearing the verdict, and then started to cry.

She said outside the court that she's relieved and "terribly sad."

"It's not a happy moment, but I'm grateful the guilty verdict came as it did," Jessop said Thursday evening.

"Our family is forever changed. That family's changed — because of one senseless act of a gun."

Dennis Robert White, 30, has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Lee Matasi, 23.
(CBC)

Upon hearing his fate, White slumped over and let out a breath.

No parole for at least 10 years

A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no parole for a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years. The jury had the option of making recommendations about White's sentencing but they didn't.

It will now be up to the judge to make a decision on parole eligibility in a sentencing hearing at a later date.

Jane Burkart, a friend of the Matasi family, said the justice system did "a wonderful job" in this trial, because a strong message is needed for young people who walk around carrying weapons.

"It's going to send a statement out to a lot of kids that they need to really think about the consequences of their actions," she said.

Lee Matasi was shot dead on Richards Street in downtown Vancouver on Dec. 3, 2005.
(CBC)

White shot Matasi, a young artist and skateboarder, outside a Vancouver nightclub on Richards Street on Dec. 3, 2005. A few days after Matasi's death, hundreds of people attended a memorial for him in a skate park he built under a highway overpass.

The trial began on Nov. 19, and ran for eight days in B.C. Supreme Court.

Matasi said gun wasn't cool: witness

The Crown's case was based on testimony from 10 police witnesses and more than a dozen civilians, some of whom saw a fight between Matasi and White outside the nightclub moments before the shooting.

According to one witness, White was showing off with a gun outside the nightclub when Matasi told him that carrying a gun wasn't cool.

The witness testified White said, "You don't know who you're dealing with," and shot Matasi after a short scuffle.

The incident was documented in a shadowy surveillance tape that showed Matasi running from an attacker. Tape from another camera showed his friends trying to offer him medical assistance after he was shot.

The defence admitted that White shot Matasi but argued that the Crown had failed to prove that White had intended to kill Matasi, and therefore the accused should only be convicted of manslaughter, not second-degree murder.