Hugh McColl was back in court Thursday, one day after 13 jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder in connection with the death of his roommate, Kate Reid.
During a brief appearance, his sentencing date was set for Feb. 17, 2017.
Four jurors have recommended he be sentenced to 12 years in prison, with one suggesting 17 years and another 20 years. Other jurors expressed no opinions about his sentence.
For some people who knew Reid during her 51-plus years of life, the length of McColl’s sentence isn’t what’s important.
“He didn’t get away with it, and I guess we can be thankful for that, but it doesn’t bring Katie back,” Tannis Henriksen said in an interview.
Henriksen says she met Reid more than 20 years ago, when both of them were working as waitresses in Alberta.
They remained friends up until Reid’s death, staying in contact via periodic phone calls.
“Kate was so damaged by other people,” she said.
“She had enormous struggles growing up, and then she had enormous struggles with men. She just didn’t trust anyone – and for good reason.”
Friends say alcohol addiction was a constant struggle for Reid, who would go through cycles of sobriety and relapse.
In 2013, she joined a support group in Kitchener, which was run by Rick King.
King remembers Reid as a “likeable and charming person” who inexplicably disappeared from the support group about nine months before her death.
During the trial, McColl claimed that he killed Reid with a hammer only after she first attacked him with a knife.
Henriksen said that she knew Reid to keep knives around the house even when she was living in Alberta two decades ago – but only to protect herself.
“I do not believe for a minute that Katie pulled a knife,” she said.
With reporting by Allison Tanner
